7-year-old raises nearly $10,000 for mother's headstone with lemonade stand

Emouree Johnson's lemonade stand charged $1 a cup, but people gave her extra tips over $100.

• An Alabama girl set up a lemonade stand to raise money for her mother's headstone.
• After the story went viral, community members and monument companies offered support and donations.
• The funds raised, totaling nearly $10,000, will cover the headstone and other funeral expenses.

The local community of Scottsboro in Jackson County, Alabama, has rallied around seven-year-old Emouree Johnson's lemonade stand for a special reason.

Emouree's efforts aren't just about making pocket money: she's attempting to raise funds to pay for her late mother's headstone.

Emouree's mother, Karli Bordner, died unexpectedly in March this year at just 29 years of age, the family told WAFF48 news.

Emouree began the venture all by herself, her grandmother, Jennifer Bordner, said. She started by charging $1 a cup.

But after a social media post about Emouree's cause went viral, people started giving her extra tips over $100 in exchange for the lemonade.

"I've just been amazed," Jennifer Bordner told WAFF48. "Cried happy tears."

According to Emouree's family, they've since raised just shy of $10,000 for the burial.

When news about Emouree's venture spread, several monument companies reached out to the family, offering to donate headstones for Karli Bordner. The money Emouree has raised can now be put to use for other expenses.

"She knows that mommy is OK now. She knows that she's going to be OK, and everybody cares and loves her," Jennifer Bordner said. "All these people showing all this and trying to help, it's actually helping heal the whole family."

Emouree said she thinks her mother would be proud of her business initiative.

"She would say I'm doing good," Emouree said.

The family's GoFundMe page has already raised a further $3,500 that the family says will go towards funeral expenses.