A steady stream of visitors to a lemonade stand helped a Mountain View family raise nearly $5,000 for childhood cancer research on Sunday.

Katy Crain's daughter Hadley is still undergoing cancer treatment after being diagnosed with leukemia in 2019, just days before she turned 6 years old. After receiving a huge outpouring of support, the family decided to pay it forward by hosting a fundraiser June 13 for Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, a nonprofit devoted to childhood cancer research.

"We raised an amazing grand total of $4,831.26 for the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation! We are going to round it up to an even $5,000 and are feeling absolutely blown away by how generous everyone was and how many people supported us in raising money for this worthy cause," Crain said in an email to the Voice on Monday. "This is an incredible community and we feel so grateful."

She said they went through seven gallons of lemonade and two gallons of strawberry lemonade, using almost 100 lemons donated by the MV Buy Nothing and MV Free Stuff groups, whose members also brought a few trays of freshly baked cookies.

Crain said the event drew a steady stream of "neighbors, classmates, strangers, coworkers, old friends we haven’t seen in a while, people who said they have been following along with our journey and people who said they just heard about it." Members of the Mountain View Police Department showed up and pitched in, as did several people from Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital where Hadley is being treated, she said.

Some visitors simply waited in line to hand over donations without taking any lemonade, others brought gifts for Hadley or shared their own cancer stories, Crain said. Party Yardy donated a Hadley’s Helpers yard sign.

"We had so much fun chatting and telling Hadley’s story. At one point Hadley yelled 'Raise your hand if you love me!' And everyone did," Crain said.

Hadley is doing okay, she said, and it helped the family to focus on something positive, she said. Being a part of so much community spirit felt really special and powerful.

"So many people kept thanking us for hosting this fundraiser, and we kept saying, 'No, thank YOU!' and gosh, it was just so wonderful," said Crain.