Family Project Helps Fundraise In Long Valley

LONG VALLEY, NJ — A small idea can sometimes develop into something that makes a significant difference.

This is what happened when seven-year-old Sullivan Catalano of Long Valley told his mom Jessica, he wanted to construct a lemonade stand.

Jessica Catalano said her son, going into the second grade, likes watching YouTube videos; and found one about building the stand. In doing so, she gave him the idea to make his stand something to help out in the community.

“I suggested to Sullivan we’ll use it to donate to something he cares about, like a hospital for sick kids or animals,” Catalano said.

He liked his mom's idea about building the stand to help homeless pets, she said, the family picking Eleventh Hour Rescue, an organization from where she’d heard other families in Long Valley adopted their “furever” friends from.

“We’ve never rescued from there [Eleventh Hour], but we have two rescued pets, recently adopting a kitten,” Catalano said.

Their other pet, Catalano said, is a dog rescued in India by a woman from the New Jersey Shore area, who brought their pup to the United States. Their dog came from a litter of street puppies, their mother killed by a car.

The Catalano family dog - a breed from India resembling a whippet - and their kitten, have since bonded and like to cuddle.

Catalano said her husband Rob joined in to help with building the stand; and the couple’s older son Tobin, who’s 10 and going into fifth grade, helped his younger brother with sales.

The boys, she said, spent four hours on July 5 selling lemonade and three batches of cookies that Jessica Catalano baked.

One of the people who dropped by for lemonade after seeing one of her social media posts about it in a Long Valley group, Catalano said, was Roger Keyser, a volunteer from Eleventh Hour Rescue.
The boys decided to up their donations at the end of the day to give more than 50 percent, with total proceeds given $50, with their mom and dad matching it with another $50.

As of this past Monday, Eleventh Hour’s Instagram and Facebook posts garnered more than $275 for the rescue, Keyser said.

Catalano said husband Rob told their boys, “You’ve probably saved a lot of dogs’ lives.”

People living in or passing through Long Valley should be on the lookout for the lemonade stand, she added, because the boys plan to take it out again soon, to raise more money.

“It’s great giving back, it’s teaching them while they’re young; and giving back has made them happy,” Jessica Catalano said. “It’s a good life lesson.”

RELATED: Long Valley Lemonade, Cookie Sale Gives Back To Pet Rescue

Questions or comments about this story? Have a news tip? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.