Sisters draw swarm of police to their Leawood neighborhood, for a good cause

A quiet Leawood neighborhood was visited Friday by a steady stream of police cars and firetrucks from across the Kansas City area.

For once, there was no emergency — just lemonade.

When Kaitlin Stotts, 9, and Laurin Stotts, 7, the daughters of a former Missouri police officer, heard about the deadly shooting of two Wyandotte County deputies in June, they wanted to do something.

"If my daddy died then I would hate that," Kaitlin said.

For the girls, the obvious solution was a lemonade stand raising money for the families of Patrick Rohrer and Theresa King. Two years ago they raised more than $800 for the family of Kansas City, Kan., police Capt. Robert Melton. They have been holding charity lemonade stands ever since, including one just two weeks ago for the Wayside Waifs animal shelter.

Friday's stand was fully stocked with two types of lemonade, brownies and lemon bars. Kaitlin said she hoped to give back and make sure the families of the deputies would be able to buy groceries.

"You see a lot of kids today who are 'me, me, me, what can I get out of this,' " said the girls' mother, Tracy Stotts. "For them to pick a cause each time and just know that, in their heart, they're helping someone else is really fantastic."

The stand opened at 9:30 a.m. Friday and would stay open through the afternoon. By noon the girls had already passed their fundraising goal of $200. The stand had been swarmed by law enforcement officers, firefighters and neighbors stopping by to show their support.

They received a special visit from Maj. Kelli Bailiff with the Wyandotte County sheriff's office. She came with teddy bears, coins and stickers from the sheriff to thank the girls and tell them that King and Rohrer both had young children.

"They're thanking you from the bottom of their hearts right now," Baillif told the girls.

Kevin Cauley, deputy chief of Leawood police, said almost all Leawood officers on duty Friday would stop by the stand during their shifts.

"It hits home whenever there's an officer that's killed in the line of duty, so it's not even a question, we have to be here," Cauley said.

This hits home for the Stotts family, too. Until 2016 Jared Stotts, the girls' father, was a police officer in Missouri. He said the girls take it personally whenever they hear about fallen officers.

"They knew what I was doing and that at some point maybe I might not come home," Jared Stotts said.

Laurin and Kaitlin said they just like the feeling of helping others.

"It just makes us feel good and makes us feel like we just did something really good and we can do something for somebody else instead of ourselves," Kaitlin said.