Jude Bauer prepares signs for his stand.
Money is hard to come by when you’re in the third grade; luckily for Crosshill Christian Student Jude Bauer inspiration is not.
When his school announced that they were going to collect pajamas to donate to foster kids, he came up with a way to contribute.
Alison, Jude’s mom, said Crosshill has committed to helping foster families this year. In other months, they’ve raised money for things like gift cards.
“We were thinking there should be a reason to pajama day … so instead of just having it be a fun, silly day to have it help other people,” Jude said. “Me and my buddy were talking about it and we wanted to raise money for foster kids.”
Jude remembered his grandparent’s neighbors had a lemonade stand last summer, which is where he got the idea to run a hot chocolate stand.
Unfortunately, his friend had gotten sick, but Jude decided to push forward. On Saturday, Jan. 25, he set up shop on the corner of Rivercrest Drive and Wayne Drive.
“I kind of thought the idea would pass and he said, ‘Oh no, I really want to do this,’ so that’s what we did,” Alison, said with a laugh.
The stand received support from friends and strangers alike.
Jude with some of his customers who visited his hot chocolate stand.
“One person gave us $20 for one cup and it was only a dollar per cup,” he said. That particular customer had driven from Dallas after seeing a post about Jude’s fundraising efforts on Facebook.
“[There were] some people we knew and then a lot of strangers. That was cool,” Alison said.
Jude ran the stand for three hours and raised $175.25.
Jude’s hard work resulted in 20 pairs of pajamas, which was the most donated by any one family.
“He did all the shopping, he was in charge of paying for everything and figuring out how many PJs he could buy,” Alison said.
They bought pajamas for boys and girls. They got some toddler pajamas but they mostly focused on older school-aged kids that were, “a little bigger than me,” as Jude described them.
Jude and his mom were met with generosity around every corner.
When they went shopping one of the store clerks gave them a discount because she was so touched.
“She went and got her manager and they discounted them another 30 percent or something. The money kept going,” Alison said.
Jude with an armful of pajamas for foster kids.
Jude said he enjoyed meeting new people who stopped by and supported his cause, but his favorite part took place behind the stand.
“I was the cashier because I like math,” he said.