Classmates Raise $6,500 For Liver Recipient

A first-grade Parkston class raised $6,570 at a lemonade stand for a classmate who received a liver transplant earlier this week.

He's scheduled to be in the hospital for a couple months and the entire community came out to support the boy suffering from an unknown condition.

The going rate for a cup of lemonade was around $20 in Parkston Saturday, as first graders traded donations for drinks to benefit their classmate Landon Bueber.

The seven-year-old boy's liver started failing around Labor Day weekend and doctors can't seem to figure out why.

Bueber's parents will likely spend several weeks with their oldest son at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

"Before the transplant, he did not feel sick. So he just does not understand why he can't go to school and ride his bike," aunt Mary Hohn said.

Although she doesn't know Bueber, Jill Nubell helped her seven-year-old daughter organize the fundraiser.

"Knowing that could happen to her just makes me feel bad for them," Nubell said.

In just the first hour, hundreds of friends, family and complete strangers come in support of Bueber.

And Bueber's first grade class is doing much more than holding the lemonade stand.  They are giving money themselves. Last week, the 16 students donated more than $100.

"It's overwhelming. There were some kids that came and emptied their piggybanks to give Landon money," Hohn said. "It's great."