HOPEFUL HELPERS

Columbus boy uses lemonade-stand sales for gifts for hospital patients

Mary Allman had been in Ohiohealth Doctors Hospital for four days already, waiting on results of tests, when Aaron Raney walked into her room Monday with a shiny balloon and an attached card.

“Feel better,” read the blue balloon with a smileyfaced yellow sun on it.

The card was from Raney’s son, George. On one side was a painting of a heart and flowers, and on the other was a printed note:

“Hi! My name is George and I am almost 7 years old. My dad works at the hospital. This is for when you are recovering. I hope it helps you feel better.”

It was hand-signed, “G.”

Allman, 86, said her grandchildren had sent her a balloon, as well, but this gift from a stranger was a sweet surprise.

“I just loved it,” said the West Side resident. “It makes you feel good, God love him. Kids are amazing.”

His parents, Far West Side residents Aaron (a resident surgeon) and Lena, say George is pretty amazing, as evidenced by the plan he hatched to raise money, buy balloons and have them delivered to hospital patients.

“It was 100% percent George’s idea,” said Aaron. “He has a tender heart and is very giving. He has a soft spot for people who are hurting.”

Added Lena: “He gets that from his dad.”

The idea started last winter. George wanted to do a lemonade stand.

“And then I thought it would be a good idea if I used the money to buy balloons for the patients,” he said.

Asked why, he said it was because his dad was a doctor, and George and his younger brother Theodore, 4, always ask Dad about his day when he comes home at night.

“I like to know what surgeries he did, and he usually almost always says gall bladders,” George said.

The family had a lemonade stand on two afternoons in August, and George said he raised $124.

Lena helped George create his card, printing out photos of his note and painting. They went to Dollar Tree and bought the first 20 balloons several weeks ago, and then the second batch of 20 on Monday.

Because of COVID-19 protocols, George can’t deliver them to patients himself, so he, Lena and Theodore bring them to the hospital lobby and Aaron takes it from there.

George, a home-schooled firstgrader who turned 7 last Sunday, said he has money to buy about 70 more balloons, and he is thinking about having an apple-cider stand this fall.

Asked what he planned to do with the cider-stand money, he gave his questioner a funny look and answered emphatically: “The same thing. Every single time.” kgordon@dispatch.com @kgdispatch

PHOTOS BY ADAM CAIRNS/COLUMBUS DISPATCH Seven-year-old George Raney always asks his father Aaron, a resident surgeon for Ohiohealth, about his day. So when George came up with the idea to hold a lemonade stand, it only made sense that he used the money he raised to buy balloons and cards for patients at his dad’s hospital. TOP: George Raney, 7, brings a bunch of balloons to his dad, Aaron Raney, a resident surgeon at Ohiohealth Doctors Hospital, to hand out to his patients. George held a successful lemonade stand that raised more than $100 to pay for the balloons.

PROVIDED BY THE RANEY FAMILY George Raney, 7, left, runs a lemonade stand at his Far West Side home in August with the help of his brother, Theodore, 4. George came up with the idea, and used the money he raised to buy balloons to deliver to patients at Ohiohealth Doctors Hospital, where his father Aaron is a resident surgeon.

ADAM CAIRNS/COLUMBUS DISPATCH Aaron Raney, a resident surgeon at Ohiohealth Doctors Hospital in Columbus, carries a bunch of balloons back to his recovering patients. Last winter, his son got the idea to do a lemonade stand to help his dad‘s patients. George, 7, raised $124 in two afternoons in August.