Pay It 4ward: Community supports 6-year-old boy after lemonade stand theft

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Tonight’s Pay It 4ward helps a little boy who wasn’t going to let thieves crush his spirit.

6-year-old Connor Brock has autism. His mom Abbegale homeschools him, so she is always looking for the next lesson.

“We try to incorporate a little bit of everything all the way around,” said Abbegale.

Earlier this summer, she landed on a lemonade stand to benefit Alex’s Lemonade Stand. It’s a national foundation that raises money for childhood cancer research. 

“I thought it would be a good learning lesson for him all the way around,” said Abbegale. “Raise money and donate it to help others, but he would also learn mathematics, you know, counting one dollar bills even up to 10. Recognizing the president on the one dollar bill, you know, just simple things like that.”

But, weeks into his effort in July, the family left for lunch, and came back to a ransacked stand.

Connor says thieves took snacks, drinks, stickers, and bowls. They cleared out Connor’s supplies.

“Basically, all they left was the shade tent, two brand-new beach chairs, and the cardboard lemonade stand he did have they threw it across the yard. Otherwise, everything was gone,” Abbegale said. 

Andrea Rose and the Valencia Valley Quilters saw what happened to Conner on Facebook.

“Just a good-hearted child that’s trying to do something good for St. Jude’s Hospital, and then to be robbed. And also his supplies taken from him after working all summer, that was just heartbreaking,” said Andrea Rose. 

The group makes more than 300 quilts a year for local sick children, veterans, and other people in need.

“We focus on the good and what we can do to make everyone’s life a little bit better,” Rose said. 

They thought Connor deserved an extra surprise on top of a quilt, so they’re Paying It 4ward with $400.

Watch the video above for more.