By J.D. O’Gara

What’s better than a good, old-fashioned lemonade stand in the middle of a hot summer?

A lemonade stand that raises money for a worthy cause and teaches children that they can have a hand in supporting their community.

This summer, you might see a few more lemonade stands in the area. That’s because Rockland Trust has embarked on their second year of providing lemonade stand kits so that families can raise money for Tommy’s Place, a local nonprofit providing magical vacation home experiences for children in New England battling cancer. 

“As a community-oriented bank, we care deeply about helping the individuals and families we serve develop a healthy relationship with money at every age,” said Margaret McCarthy, Chief Retail Banking Officer at Rockland Trust. 

Children who would like to participate in hosting a lemonade stand can go to their local branch to pick up a kit that will have everything they need to run the stand. The initiative will run through September 30, 2023. 

Rockland Trust employee Patrice Pimental came up with the program last year,” says Melissa Guimand, also of Rockland Trust, “She knew Tim O’Connell, the founder of Tommy’s Place, through a banking relationship, so she just started and ran with a lemonade stand on her own. This was just the Cape Cod branches – the first house of Tommy’s Place opened in Falmouth in 2021 – but they raised $20,000, and the marketing department wasn’t aware right away. They just did it word-of-mouth.”

When Rockland Trust’s marketing department did get wind of the community project, they decided to run the event bank-wide, through Massachusetts and Connecticut branches, handing out kits and collecting lemonade-stand donations all summer long.

Each kit includes:          

• Lemonade mix

• Cups

• Instructional card

• Host flier

• Money envelope

• Note to parents/guardians about the initiative.

Last year, in fact, former guest (July of 2022) of Tommy’s Place, Jase Russell, of Hyannis, became a top fundraiser through Rockland Trust’s lemonade stand program, raising over $3,000 for Tommy’s Place.

By early June this year, the lemonade stand initiative had already raised $4,200.

“Tommy’s Place” a dream vacation home for kids fighting cancer, first opened its doors in Falmouth in July of 2021. Named for Tommy Leonard, founder of the world-famous Falmouth Road Race, the vacation home is completely free, including meals, and a new Centerville location just opened this year. Families interested in staying enter a raffle and are randomly selected.

Each room of Tommy’s Place, just a walk to the downtown areas, is individually designed and decorated, and the locations feature, inground swimming pools (coming soon), game rooms, boardgame rooms, home theatres, taverns, music and arts and crafts rooms and more.  The outside has a basketball court, beach volleyball court, cornhole, horseshoes, giant chess and checkers, ping pong, outdoor TV, fire pit and a 1951 Fire Truck!!

Tim O’Connell, Founder of “Tommy’s Place”, had the privilege of gifting a dream Martha’s Vineyard vacation to a little 8-year-old boy named Grifyn and his family not too long ago.

“Little did I know at the time what an impact that it would have on the rest of my life, but way more importantly than that what an impact that it had on little Grifyn and his entire family.  Sadly, Grifyn passed away shortly after his visit to Martha’s Vineyard.  While we never met, we have an iron-clad bond that will never be broken … This vacation home is being dedicated in memory of Grifyn Sawyer.”

If you and the young people in your life would like to support Tommy’s Place, visit RocklandTrust.com/Lemonade, stop by your local branch of Rockland Trust to pick up your lemonade stand kit, or visit https://donorbox.org/tommysplace to make a direct donation.