YOUNGSTOWN — To honor the memory of the passing of their aunt, two Austintown children for the past four years have organized a lemonade stand with proceeds going to a charity of their choosing.

Annalise Kenyon, 11, and her 8-year-old brother, Jordan, decided this year that Aunt Mimi’s Lemonade Stand’s proceeds would go toward the purchase of protective body armor for police dogs. Each vest costs $1,050. The event raised enough money for 13 vests.

The Saturday event took place at Penguin City Brewing Co. on East Federal Street in Youngstown.

“I love dogs, and we decided to do K-9 vests because the K-9 officers are often in very dangerous situations and very tragic things can happen,” Annalise said. “These vests are very important to protect them. My aunt would be proud. She had two dogs of her own.”

After her aunt, Amy Kenyon-Bowman — who the kids called Aunt Mimi — died July 16, 2022, Annalise said she wanted to donate all of her Christmas and birthday money to the Animal Welfare League in her memory. Kenyon-Bowman adopted several dogs from the AWL as did the Kenyon family.

“My mom said maybe we could raise money instead,” Annalise said. “I’ve always wanted to run a lemonade stand and that’s what we’ve done every year.”

Jordan said: “It makes me feel happy that we can help these animals that help find people who do bad stuff. They go to crime scenes and help people. It feels nice to help people out.”

Their parents, Melissa and Gregory, help with the fundraising efforts.

After donating in 2022 to the AWL, the children decided to raise money the following year for pediatric cancer and then Veterans Outreach last year, Melissa said.

What started out as a small event has grown tremendously, Melissa said, after Gov. Mike DeWine visited the lemonade stand in front of their Austintown home in 2022, attracting publicity.

“After the governor’s visit, it really blew up and my daughter realized she could really accomplish a lot of stuff and it went from there,” Melissa said.

Gregory said: “I’m very proud of our kids. They do all of the research on the organizations they want to help.”

The kids chose to raise money for K-9 bulletproof vests this year. Gregory, who managed the former O’Charley’s in Boardman, said he approached Jack Neapolitan, a retired Boardman police officer, after seeing him wearing a police shirt.

“We talked and I said my kids want to purchase K-9 ballistic vests for the dogs and he said, ‘I’m all in,'” Gregory said. “He’s been a heck of a help.”

Neapolitan said he has connections with law enforcement and made several others to assist the Kenyon family with the event.

The bulletproof vests, he said, are vital to the safety of the dogs.

“They are always the first ones to go into a dangerous situation,” he said. “They go into buildings. They go into the woods. They’re pulling the handler as they’re tracking. They need as much protection as the human officer. Having them protected is of the utmost importance. They are lifesavers.”

Jeff Rich, a Mahoning County Sheriff’s deputy, was at the Saturday event with his K-9, Bubba.

While Bubba has a vest, Rich said, “It’s good for all of the dogs to have them. You don’t know who is going to get shot.”

Bubba is an electronics-sniffing dog, able to find cellphones, thumb drives and computer cards largely in cases involving child pornography.