Meliia cuts the ribbon as community leaders celebrate at her lemonade stand Wednesday afternoon at Victoria Avenue and Jane Street. (Courtesy City of Riverside)
The lemonade stand at Victoria Avenue and Jane Street got the ribbon-cutting treatment Wednesday afternoon. The Chamber of Commerce gathered at 4 p.m. to honor Meliia, whose summer at the corner selling lemonade became something larger than a nine-year-old's Disneyland fund: a reflection of what Riverside believes about itself at its best.
The directness of Meliia's ambition declutters the deeper meaning of her story. She had a goal and set out to achieve it. In the process she reminded us of our best notions of community: What it means to welcome the refugee, what it means to reward ambition, and what it means to coalesce around someone's dream and push it to fruition.
At the ceremony, the Chamber of Commerce announced a contribution of over $1,000 to the GoFundMe campaign organized by former City Councilmember Mike Gardner, bringing the $3,680 total closer to the $5,000 goal.
"I also learned about the lemonade stand from the Raincross Gazette," Gardner said, explaining how he started the fundraiser to send Meliia's family to Disneyland with a VIP Disneyland experience.
Beyond organizing the fundraiser, Gardner saw in Meliia's story echoes of the immigrant determination that built California. He noted Meliia arrived from Ukraine less than three years ago speaking no English, with her family living in a motel room. She started public school not knowing the language or any classmates. "And now she's an award-winning student," he said.
"I was just really impressed by her entrepreneurial spirit and her commitment and willingness to work," he said. "She was out here on days when it was over 100 degrees and she was out here working."
For Robillard, Meliia's determination felt familiar. His father-in-law arrived from Yugoslavia as a nine-year-old in the 1970s, speaking no English, and now works at SpaceX building Dragon Capsules for space missions.
"Learning Meliia's story and my father-in-law's story, this really resonated - that experience of a family who is leaving a war-torn country, looking for an opportunity in the United States, and especially Southern California and Riverside," he said.
Meliia thanked the neighbors who've supported her business throughout the summer. "A couple of people gave me a lot of money or gifts from Disney. Two ladies came up and one gave $5 and the other one gave $100 gift cards, and I was really pleased by that."
Meliia serves a customer at her Victoria Avenue lemonade stand. The fourth-grader continues to operate her stand every Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday after 3 p.m., even with school back in session. (Courtesy City of Riverside)
Medina, who lives less than two miles away and walks past the stand regularly, said Meliia's impact extends beyond lemonade sales. "For a fourth-grader...she is inspiring. Look at all the people that you brought out here, bringing the community together for a worthy project."
School has already started, cutting into Meliia's lemonade stand hours. But she still shows up every Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday after 3 p.m., the same determination that carried her from Ukraine to an American classroom now keeping her behind the stand. Her future in Riverside remains unwritten. She may become the police officer she dreams of being, or take another path entirely.
But what happened at Victoria and Jane in the summer of 2025 is already settled: a nine-year-old earned more than money at her lemonade stand. She earned a place in the community, and even with school back in session, she still shows up on the corner when she can. If we are lucky, this investment in Meliia will pay dividends and her success will be reverberating through our community for generations.
