Behind the Badge
If you happen to live in the Brooklyn Park area, you might have noticed a hand-written sign that reads: Lemonade on the right. Mostly in the morning.
Nine-year-old Gracen Newbauer wrote that sign to help customers find his lemonade table.
Gracen was taking advantage of the Minnesota heat by selling lemonade; last week, his lemonade stand earned him $20.
KTIS reported that Mark Newbauer, Gracen’s father, said his son’s success was cut short.
“Two junior high kids on bikes drove by his stand and stole $20 out of his cup,” he said. “Gracen called me up and asked me if he should call the police, and I said that he probably shouldn’t bother them, but I did pray for him.”
After thinking a bit more about the situation, Newbauer told Gracen to go ahead and call the police.
“When I got home there were two Brooklyn Park police cars on the street in front of his lemonade stand,” Newbauer said.
A female officer replaced the stolen $20, and asked Newbauer to hold onto the money for his son.
“After that, a third police car showed up, and that officer asked for four cups of lemonade and gave him $5,” he said. “By the end of the day, he had $50 because of the officers.”
Mark said his wife was outside with Gracen the next day when another officer stopped by.
“She was out there with tears in her eyes thanking him,” he said. “She couldn’t believe that people would do this for a child. I had tears in my eyes too, that it was so precious that something so little could mean so much.”
Gracen plans to bring cookies and a thank you card to the Brooklyn Park Police Department.
