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| By Paula Canning Staff Writer CHICOPEE As Hurricane Katrina victims continue to struggle in the aftermath of the disaster, one local youngster is stepping up to the plate to do what he can to keep the relief effort going. Without any outside encouragement, six-year-old Stephen Laroche approached his mother last week and told her he decided he would host a lemonade stand fund-raiser to benefit the victims outside of his Broadway Street home. He hosted the fund-raiser last Sunday between the hours of 2 and 4 p.m. When asked why he decided to host the fund-raiser, Stephen said, "I was thinking about all those poor people with no homes because Hurricane Katrina wiped away everything. I was thinking that so many people died because of this and how the rain broke their homes." Stephen's mother, Janet Laroche, said that Stephen's knowledge of the disaster stems from glimpses of the devastation he caught on the television news. "I'm proud of my little boy," Janet said. "I just couldn't believe he came up with the idea of having this whole thing himself. It's just amazing." She said that in addition to witnessing the tragedy on television, Stephen may have also been motivated to help because the Laroche's neighbor has a family member left homeless from the disaster coming from New Orleans to live in their home in Chicopee. "He knows about that, so that may have been part of it too," Laroche said. All planning for the fund-raiser, Janet said, was done by Stephen. Stephen told Reminder Publications that he designated his mother and his younger sister, 4-year-old Madalyn, each with their own tasks for the fund-raiser. "Mommy's job [was] to make more lemonade," he said, while Madalyn's job was to tell his mom when they were running low on lemonade. Stephen also chose the time for the lemonade to coincide with the end of church so "he would get the people leaving church to buy some lemonade." Stephen's father, John Laroche, said he was pleased when Stephen told him he wanted to have the lemonade stand to benefit Katrina victims. "It shows that he's well aware of helping people in need, and I attribute a lot of that to his upbringing and the family's faith," he said. Proceeds from the lemonade stand were donated to the American Red Cross. |