BUTTE, Mont. -- When life gives you lemons, make lemonade--that's a saying that everybody has heard. But how often do you take it literally?
One Butte family has. After childhood cancer took their daughter's life away from them, they're now using the power of lemonade to prevent other families from suffering the same fate.
"She was just such a bubbly, happy, sunshine-filled baby," said Reno Bowling of Butte. "She impacted a lot of people. We had multiple friends who told us that they went back to church in honor of her."
The lives of Reno and Makayla Bowling changed forever in 2023 when they learned that their infant daughter Scarlett had developed acute myeloid leukemia.
After nine months of continuous travel and treatment, the Bowlings were forced to say goodbye in March 2024. But Scarlett's story was far from over.
"We sat there and told ourselves that we weren't just going to let it end like this," Reno Bowling said. "We were going to try to do something positive out of such a horrific event in our lives. That's when Makayla found out about Alex's Lemonade Stand."
The summer after Scarlett passed, Reno and Makayla teamed up with Alex's Lemonade Stand, a national foundation fighting childhood cancer, from which all donations at stands across the country go directly toward research.
After raising nearly $7,000 across the summers of 2024 and 2025, the lemonade stand set up in Butte in Scarlett's honor will return again this Saturday, June 20.
"The Butte community just exceeded our expectations," Makayla Bowling said. "Last year, we set a goal for $2,500... We ended up raising a little over $4,600."
"This year, we had set a goal for $5,000," Bowling continued. "So, we are very hopeful. And it's really great because $50 is one hour of cancer research."
Reno and Makayla are now also the parents of Lainey Jo Bowling, born March 17, 2025.
Saturday's fundraiser will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in front of Thriftway Super Stops' corporate office at 2000 Holmes Ave. The Butte public is invited to attend and donate in-person or online. In addition to lemonade, a variety of other donated snacks and refreshments will be provided.
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Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
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Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.