OWEN SOUND – A group of local six to eight-year old boys are hoping to "bake a difference" with a two-day lemonade and cookie sale to raise funds for the United Way's Fire Support Fund. All proceeds from the event are to assist the Johnson family of Georgian Bluffs, who lost everything in a fatal house fire July 9th.

Saturday July 19th, the group will have cold lemonade and freshly baked cookies for sale at the Owen Sound Farmer's Market from 8am to 12pm.

On Sunday July 20th, they will be at the Zehrs Market entrance from 11am to 3pm.

Eight-year old Nolan Taylor and his brother Dylan, 6, wanted to do something to help the Johnson family. Their mother, Rachel Taylor, enlisted the support of the families of Miranda Miller and Niki Ormsby to plan a fundraising event that could come together quickly and help meet the immediate needs of the Johnson family. Miller and Ormsby each have two boys who will help with preparation and selling the goods.

"When we first learned about the fire and talked to the kids about it, Dylan jumped up and asked if the Johnsons could come live with us, he just really wanted to help so badly," said Taylor. "We were going to make a donation and then starting talking about how we could make our donation bigger if we used the money to buy some supplies and had a bake sale. I contacted Miranda and she contacted Francesca and Niki and it just grew from there!"

The organizers enlisted the support of the United Way to manage donations and several local businesses to cover the costs of ingredients, paper supplies and signage for the event.

"We wanted to have the costs covered so every available dollar can go to the Johnson family," said Miller. "We are incredibly thankful to the United Way of Grey and Bruce for administering the funds raised; to Freedom 55 Financial and Stone Tree Golf & Fitness for donations; to Owen Sound Farmers Market for supplying the Saturday venue and Zehrs Market for supplying the Sunday venue and a donation; to Georgian College Owen Sound Culinary Department for the use of their commercial kitchen, and to Have1.com for supplying the signage and flyers for the event."

Those wishing to make a donation directly to the United Way of Bruce Grey in support of the Johnson family can do so online through the organization's donations portal at donatetoday.ca.

Contact for fundraising event: Miranda Miller at 519.376.6475 or Rachel Taylor at 519.379.2095

Contact for United Way: Francesca Dobbyn at 519.376.1560