When Violet Wilson-Wood was in Boothbay recently, she wondered what all the red hearts were for.

After the 9-year-old Alna girl found out people there had been trying to save St. Andrews Hospital, she decided she wanted to help, too.

On September 6 and 7, she and her best friend, fellow Wiscasset Primary School fourth grader Jasmine Rego, 9, went to work on their own fundraiser.

The two made signs at Rego's house September 5, gathered supplies from Wilson-Wood's house, including a Pokemon tablecloth from her birthday, and set up an iced tea stand on her lawn beginning after school September 6. (They were going to sell lemonade, but didn't have the makings for it.)

Not that they didn't think ahead: At school September 6, they told several staff members their plans in hopes of drumming up business.

The school's librarian, Lisa Hardman, also of Alna, stopped by the stand. “I couldn't resist when they said they were raising money for a good cause,” she said later.

Hardman has known both girls for years at the school, and wasn't surprised that they would want to do something helpful. They are always eager to help in the library, she said.

“They're really, really nice kids.”

“They're really sweet. I think it's great,” Rego's mother Cindy Rego said about the project, as night started to fall over Route 218. The girls wanted to stay out a little longer in case of more sales.

Rego's father Mark Rego was born at St. Andrews. Asked about the plans for its hospital days to end, he said, “It's too bad but it comes down to money.”

Wilson's father Cullen Wilson said he would be sorry to see the peninsula lose its hospital. He grew up in Southport. “When you're there, you realize how remote it is,” he said.

As of Friday night, the girls had raised $20. They were back out Saturday and raised a weekend grand total of $50, Cullen Wilson said September 8.

Customers were few Saturday but, as with the night before, the girls stuck with it to try to increase the amount they could donate, he said. “I was impressed.”

Susan Johns can be reached at 207-844-4633 or susanjohns@wiscassetnewspaper.com