WATERVLIET, N.Y. (NEWS10) – A group of local kids from Watervliet held one final lemonade stand of the summer to raise money for a cause close to their hearts.

“Because she cared about everything,” fifth grader Austin Grant said.

The cousins’ great grandmother, Jamie Parkes, passed away 1.5 years ago, and it was Community Hospice that was there for the family as the end grew near.

“Without hospice, she would have been in a nursing home, and probably wouldn’t have lived for as long as she did,” lemonade stand organizer Crystal Staccio said.

One of the first customers was Parkes’s daughter, Melanie, who held back tears as she thought of her mother looking down on the lemonade stand.

“She’d be in awe by this,” she said. “She’d be so pleased with these kids – so impressed and so grateful.”

Neighbors stopped by with donations in hand. Some of them had a personal connection to Jamie Parkes or to hospice care. Melanie said the two have a lot in common.

“I want people to know she’s the most selfless person in the world, and I also want people to know that all the people in Renssealer County Hospice and probably every hospice are also the most selfless people in the world,” she said.

The kids are following that path of generosity and encouraging their neighbors to follow suit.

“I think we’re all doing a very good thing,” Grant said.

The kids had a goal of making $100, but they surpassed their goal in just two hours.