August 11, 2025
9-Year-Old Local Student Makenna Helms Raises Over $2,200 for Charity with Lemonade Stand
By Kyle Coppola
9-Year-Old Local Student Makenna Helms Raises Over $2,200 for Charity with Lemonade Stand
Before embarking on her 4th grade school year at Bushnell Elementary School, 9-year-old Makenna Helms is spending her summer vacation not at the pool or the park, but behind a lemonade stand, making a difference in her community.
Makenna, who is entering the 4th grade, set up her stand in the lobby of her grandmother’s office at America’s Title Corp in Bushnell. Selling lemonade for just 50 cents a cup, she has raised more than $2,200 in just a few days and she’s donating every dollar to charity.
(Makenna set up a lemonade stand and made over $2,200 in just a few days which she plans plans to donate.)
Makenna is dividing the funds between four causes close to her heart: Hope Children’s Home, The Refuge at Jumper Creek, her school, and her church.
“She told me she wanted to help children in need, and she really meant it,” says her proud grandmother Lisa Weeks Chamblee. “It’s not every day you see someone her age so determined to make an impact.”
Thank you Makenna for making an impact! Way to go!
Source – Lisa Weeks Chamblee
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
