It started five years ago with a lemonade stand, a love for her rescue dog, Spot, and a dream to help other pups like him who need a place to call home.
Since then, 10-year-old Ishani Ayona Pal has raised more than $10,000 for a Niagara animal rescue by running a lemonade stand outside her home in Niagara-on-the-Lake every summer every year.
Ayona Pal was out on Sunday with her friends, selling cold glasses of fresh lemonade and small bags of popcorn to those who stopped by her home in Old Town.
“I want to raise money for the dogs and make sure they get a safe home,” she said.
The stand raised $900 in 2022, about $1,800 in 2023, more than $2,000 in 2024 and a little more than $2,500 last year. Her mother, Urbee Shome, said the family was closing in on $10,000 raised over five years before Sunday’s totals came in.
“We’re close to $10,000, I think,” Shome said. “Pushing.”
Then, on Wednesday, after counting up the profits from the weekend, Shome shared that the lemonade stand pushed past the $10,000 mark after raising more than $3,000 this summer.
When she was six years old, Ayona Pal got the idea to run a lemonade stand in the summer. She asked her parents if she could do so and they agreed — on the condition the money went to charity. Shome said her daughter picked a cause without hesitating.
“Spot. He’s from there, and we want the dogs there also to find a home like Spot,” Ishani said, referring to the family’s pet dog, who came from Niagara Dog Rescue, the recipient of their donations every year.
Shome said some of the dogs the rescue takes in come from shelters that euthanize animals.
Niagara Dog Rescue director Diane Cartnell visited the stand with volunteers earlier in the day. The rescue made Ayona Pal a sign this year to thank her for keeping the fundraiser going.
Tanya Rice, who sold the family their home about 10 years ago and remains close with them through her own work in animal rescue, has come to the stand each year since it started.
“It’s been really good for her to see it grow every year,” Rice said.
The family does not promote the stand on social media, Shome said. Word of mouth draws friends from Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver, and donations have come in from Mexico and India.
“People just see kindness, and then it kind of escalates and surmounts more kindness,” Shome said.
For example, one man made a wrong turn Sunday morning and stopped when he saw the family setting up. Shome said he donated, asked why Ayona Pal was raising money, then said he wanted his company to support the rescue.
“As she gets older, we wonder how much longer she’s going to want to do the lemonade stand,” Shome said. “But she wants to do it every year.”
