NEW HEBRON – Kids sitting behind astreet-side lemonade stand are a common summer sight, but thosestands do not produce and deliver more than 200 gallons of lemonadein a week.

    “Katelyn’s Lemonade” does just that, though, and all for a goodcause. Operating a lemonade stand has been a goal of Katelyn’s fortwo years.

    “I like homemade lemonade,” said 9-year-old Katelyn Patterson.”It’s my favorite summer drink.”

    Patterson has traveled across the state of Mississippi to selllemonade and raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association(MDA). Her on-the-road lemonade business has garnered her afollowing that includes 5,000 friends on Facebook.

    “I can’t haul enough to meet demand. I can’t do it,” said HopeMcDaniel, Katelyn’s great aunt.

    McDaniel and her husband are Katelyn’s legal guardians, and, rightnow, McDaniel seems to also serve as Katelyn’s businessmanager.

    “Most recently we delivered 120 gallons to Vicksburg and 150 toFlorence,” McDaniel said, double-checking her figures in a notebookfull of orders and dates. “The week before, we were in Jackson,Wesson and Hattiesburg.”

    Katelyn and her family have done all this since school ended inMay.

    Katelyn suffers from Congenital Muscular Dystrophy (CMD), a form ofmuscular dystrophy present from birth. CMD can produce a variety ofeffects, including muscle weakness, muscle degeneration and jointdefects.

    Katelyn’s CMD is relatively mild.

    “She uses a wheelchair but does not depend on it,” McDanielsaid.

    Katelyn was required to undergo a surgery in April and McDanielpromised Katelyn that if she got out of the hospital in time, theywould set up a lemonade stand at a nearby T-ball game. McDanieldidn’t believe that Katelyn would recover soon enough to make thegame, but Katelyn was confident.

    They made the game.

    Other T-ball games soon followed and soon, one customer asked for agallon. Business expanded. Then, the time came for Katelyn toattend summer camp, but she had a surprise for her camp thisyear.

    Katelyn goes to the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) Camp,located outside of Hazlehurst. McDaniel explained that the camp isfree for children diagnosed with some form of muscular dystrophybut accepts donations from families.

    This summer was the fourth time Katelyn attended. She decided todonate her lemonade stand money, a total of $750.

    Katelyn soon came to the attention of Scott Steele, a local radiohost and he featured her story on air. Within two weeks Katelyn had4,000 new friends on Facebook.

    “It went ‘poof!’,” Katelyn said, speaking of demand for thelemonade.

    That demand means a lot of time squeezing lemons.

    McDaniel estimated that it takes one hour to make 10 gallons oflemonade. The cost to the family to make the lemonade is $4.50 pergallon.

    Katelyn announces through her Facebook page the towns she plans tovisit soon and then takes pre-orders by the gallon. She will be inBrookhaven on Wednesday at the Western Sizzlin beginning atnoon.

    The family accepts whatever people want to pay per gallon. Allproceeds are donated to the MDA.

    “Many kids with muscular dystrophy are much worse than Katelyn,”McDaniel said. “More than anything else, Katelyn is thinking aboutthem.”