This Halloween, she was planning to be an M&M, along with her friend, Kylin, but Grace Lavache, 10, was worried about some kids who would not get the chance to go trick-or-treating.
“This year, I realized there are a lot of sick kids in the hospital, while I get to go enjoy myself on Halloween, they can’t really go out,” says Grace, a 5th grader at Medway Middle School. “I decided to buy some costumes so they can go trick-or-treat.”
LaVache’s father, Ed, owns Boston Boxing, in Brighton, which holds an annual toy drive for Franciscan Children’s Hospital. That is how Grace got the idea to donate what she raised from a lemonade stand this year to that cause, she says. In addition, LaVache solicited further donations from his gym members. The whole effort yielded about three boxes of costumes for patients at Franciscan Children’s.
“They dress the kids up, and walk around the building, and they’ll go to each room and get candy,” says Grace.
The 10-year-old is no stranger to raising money. This is the third year she has donated profits from her lemonade stand to charity. She began her philanthropic efforts the year before last, when she put together a lemonade stand to raise money for an American Girl doll for herself.
“I wanted to save up for an American Girl doll, which was like $100, but then I saw a dog commercial on how they needed food and stuff like that, so that’s when I got the idea to donate to Buddy Dogs,” says Grace. The next year, a member of her father’s gym, Katy Colton, encouraged her to donate her profits, $270, to the Homeless Veterans Society of New England.
“So, I’ve been doing the same thing for different charities,” says Grace. “It makes me feel good, like I’m helping others. It gives me a good feeling.”