Henry is 9 years old, lives in Downriver (Southgate), and just started 4th grade
Henry really loves dogs and all animals, really,
In the summer of 2022, Henry decided he wanted to have a lemonade stand in our little community, and for every dollar he made, he would donate it to a local shelter.
The first lemonade stand made $202, and he donated every penny to the Wyandotte animal shelter.
For the last three summers, Henry has held multiple lemonade stands at our home and has been invited by different shelters and companies to hold his stands at their location. Last year, he officially became a nonprofit foundation.
Henry has raised and donated nearly $60,000 these last three years every single penny has been going to help an animal in need he has sponsored 16 dog adoptions and paid for 100 dogs and cats to be spayed/neutered, donated thousands of dollars to our shelters for medical care, and ran an event this past Christmas to ensure every shelter guest (8 total in our area) had Christmas treats, and chicken nuggets. It shows a great testament to our community for the support they give to a little boy just trying to make a difference.
His largest fundraisers to date occurred last June and he raised over $8300 in four hours for the river Rouge animal shelter, a local animal shelter in a low income community, and this past April where he raised nearly $9000, with $5000 going to the Detroit Rebel Dogs (the city's first no kill shelter), paid off some local rescue vet bills, and began a fund to pair veterans with shelter dogs to act as service dogs.
Henry has been featured on World News Tonight with David Muir as part of his “America Strong” series. He had a special episode highlighting his work featured on Extraordinary World with Jeff Corwin and has been recognized by our city and local news stations for his hard work.
In an unfortunate twist of fate that restored our faith in humans once again, last April, Henry's own dog, Pickles, suffered a medical emergency after an outpatient surgical procedure. Pickles was in the ICU for a week, and our family went through our savings trying to save our best friend. A local news anchor shared Pickles’ story, and a GoFundMe campaign was started, and Henry’s supporters donated $10,000 to Pickles’ care. Many of the contributions stated that Henry had done so much for dogs with no families, they had to help save his best friend. The great news is that Pickles is back to 100% and thriving, all thanks to the kind people who didn't want a boy to lose his best friend.
Henry's mission is for every shelter guest to be loved and comfortable until they find a home. He always says, “What if no one helps them? I have to be the one”.
If you would like to know more about Henry, you can check out his Facebook page, “Henry's Lemonade Stand”.
