Viral 9-year-old lemonade stander visits the Suncoast

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - For 9 year old Grayson Roberts, life has been giving him lemons.

More than 30 eye surgeries and multiple transplants, Grayson’s rare condition though, is not stop stopping him from making lemonade.

Grayson went viral on social media with millions of views... Of his lemonade stands in southern California raising money to see the world.

Molly Whalen, a Sarasota native, says she saw an opportunity to help Grayson see a part of the world he maybe hasn’t yet.

“I just commented and said if you ever want to see the best beach in America, you can come stay at my Airbnb and it just took off from there,” said Whalen.

In addition to the all expense paid trip to Siesta Key, Whalen -- with the Taylor Morrison group-- organized a lemonade stand in one of the developers communities.

Terica Roberts, Grayson’s mother said, “Its really nice to be so far from home and feel at home,” at Sunday’s lemonade stand.

Dozens of families showed up to donate helping Grayson fund his next adventure.

Grayson added, “Its been really good, I’m so happy for all the support and I want to travel the world too. Next year we’re going to go to China!”

Whalen says she never expected to form a special friendship with Grayson from across the country but she says its the collective effort that made that happen.

Whalen said, “You can take something that’s so small that you have, I had an Airbnb to donate, and then partnering with Taylor Morrison and the community and all the people locally, it can really take form and change a little boy’s life.”

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