Lemonade 4 Lunch makes national TV debut

An American talk show host and celebrity cook shares the same vision as Hayden Meadows second-grader Amiah Van Hill: To make sure no student goes hungry.

"Rachael Ray cares about two things that she is most passionate about. One — dogs, she loves her dogs. And two is making sure that kids at school have lunch," Amiah's mom, Rachel Van Hill, said Tuesday. "She has the same passion and drive that Amiah does, she just does it in New York and Amiah does it in Idaho."

These two kind and kindred spirits met in person last week when Amiah, 7, was invited to go on the "Rachael Ray Show" to discuss her work with Lemonade 4 Lunch, a nonprofit she created last summer to wipe out school lunch debt.

"She was really nice. She made these spaghetti doughnuts and I tried them and I didn’t really care for them," Amiah said, starting to giggle. "It was really neat."

Through her lemonade stand work and GoFundMe page, Amiah last fall was able to donate the more than $23,000 necessary to cover Coeur d'Alene School District's unpaid lunch tabs. Since that time, she has become a GoFundMe Kid Hero and became the youngest person in the state of Idaho to ever receive the Outstanding Youth Philanthropist Award

She now has her heart set on raising $100,000 by the end of the summer to eradicate lunch debt for the entire state of Idaho.

"I think that this is a lesson for grownups, too," Ray said to Amiah in a clip from the show. "It reminds me at the end of ‘Scrooged’ when Bill Murray is trying to get people to go out and be nice to each other. He says, ‘You get addicted to it, you get hungry for it!’ Once you do it once, you just want to keep doing it!"

Amiah was inspired to combat lunch debt when her mom shared a news story with her about Seattle dad Jeff Lew being successful in doing the same.

“Bravo for you, Rachel, for a mom to share grown-up news because it relates to their lives as children," Ray said to Rachel in the clip.

After covering Seattle's debt, Lew began to raise money to cover lunch debt across Washington. Just next door in the Gem State, Amiah is following his lead.

"It's mind-blowing," Lew told The Press Tuesday afternoon. "It really warms my heart to hear that someone would be inspired by my efforts. To hear about a 6-year-old doing the same brings a big smile to my face."

He said he hopes to meet Amiah in person someday; he and Amiah's mom have kept in touch since she reached out to him last year to tell him about her daughter's goals.

"I love how she's so energetic and wants to keep it going," Lew said. "Who knows what her current efforts are doing? She could be inspiring so many other kids her age."

Lew also commended Amiah's parents for raising such a great kid. He said he shared this with Rachel during a previous conversation.

"I said, 'You realize you and your husband are doing a great job raising your kids as well,'" said the father of three. "You have to give credit where it's due."

He said Amiah's determination and work is incredibly mature for a person her age, and he is delighted that she has expanded her mission to fight lunch debt across Idaho.

"I just love seeing her set her goal even higher," he said. "Maybe she'll be the future president of this country. It's amazing."

"My husband and I are so proud of Amiah's heart to help others at such a young age," Rachel said. "It's been fun to watch her see no walls when it comes to solving a problem. She believed she could help all students right from the beginning and that is exactly what she is doing."

Amiah will be bringing her lemonade stand to different Mountain West Bank branches as the days lead up to summer. She shines when she shares her catchphrase: "It doesn't matter how old you are, you can always make a difference in this world."

Amiah and Rachel will appear on "Rachael Ray" at 3 p.m. today on KXLY. A "Rachael Ray" official shared that a surprise for Amiah and her mom will be revealed during the show.