Rosie Renton’s lemonade stand had only been open for a few minutes, yet business was already hopping. Bill Roberts eased his SUV up to the stand, making a rare decision to stop at the pop-up beverage station.

“This looks like a friendly one,” Roberts said.

Renton, 11, poured a lemonade from a glass cooler and took Roberts’ money. The price is 50 cents per cup.

Her father, John, and brother, Sam, 16, built the wheeled cart that Rosie helps her mother, Jennifer, roll onto the street in front of their home most summer days.

“I love selling lemonade on the street,” Rosie said. “I love quenching people’s thirst.”

She’s not just talking about the people who stop at her stand near Hillside Park. Renton is raising money for a nonprofit called charity: water. The charity’s mission is to provide “clean and safe” water for people in developing countries, according to the organization’s website.

The clean water source saves women and children from the grueling daily task of carrying water cans to and from distant water sources, which can sometimes be ponds. A clean and local well keeps a community healthier.

Renton, who turns 12 on Sunday, is hoping to raise $1,200 before summer is over. She’s already raised more than $1,100.

For her upcoming birthday party, Renton has asked friends to contribute $12 to her cause instead of bringing presents.

“I didn’t want more stuff for my birthday — I have everything I need,” Renton said. “I like being a minimalist.”

While Renton sold lemonade, she was visited by friends who live nearby. Owen King, 12, tailed by his sister, Meredith, 10, plunked down four quarters on the counter.

“Two, please,” Owen said.

Renton parted lemon slices on a cutting board to fit onto the lips of the paper cups before filling them. Owen took the cups and passed one to his sister. Both liked the lemonade.

“It’s very savory with a sweet and sour mix and a wonderful aftertaste,” Meredith said matter-of-factly. “It’s not too sugary. I think it’s perfect.”

Renton makes the lemonade from a frozen concentrate her mom buys (she pays her back) at Newport Avenue Market.

Owen wanted to support Renton because he’d already caught the altruism bug. Last year, Owen contributed $120 toward his Pacific Crest Middle School classmates’ effort to buy generators for Puerto Rico in 2017. Millions lost electricity for months after Hurricanes María and Irma slammed the American territory. The school raised around $4,000 — enough money for four generators.

“It’s fun and exciting to give back. It might seem simple but you can be very helpful,” he added.

If Renton’s lemonade stand is any indication, giving back is also a fun crash course in design. On its counter, next to the daisies Renton plucked from her parents’ yard that morning and arranged in a vase, greeting cards, which Renton drew herself, are proudly displayed for sale. Some feature bears, others the cosmos.

“Hello, sunshine!” a grinning Earth says to a beaming sun. Renton has wrapped the cards in red and white twine and strung in $4 price tags. A string of little triangles and a hand-drawn sign complete the stand.

“This is all Rosie,” Jennifer said. “She totally has the design gene. She didn’t get it from me.”

What she did get from her mother is a knack for fundraising. For her 40th birthday, Renton, 41, strove to drum up $40,000 for charity: water, a New York City-based nonprofit founded by a nightclub promoter who turned to altruism. Instead of asking for a gift, Renton asked friends and family to pitch in toward her fundraising goal. She ultimately raised $61,100. The Rentons have been involved with charity: water for seven years. They’re “VIP givers,” Jennifer said. Last year, the nonprofit’s founder, Scott Harrison, invited Jennifer to join his team for a week of work in Ethiopia. They visited villages with varying water access. In one instance, Renton was shocked to learn that a village shared a water source — a small pond — with local livestock.

“A cow came over and took a drink,” she said. “That was sobering. This is their reality: They’re drinking water the same place as animals. They just need a well.”

Clean water is often found below ground in the water table — it’s just a matter of drilling down to it. Installing a well in Africa costs around $12,000, Renton said. In the interest of transparency, charity: water provides donors with GPS coordinates and photographs of wells so they can see the impact their money has had. Due to the nonprofit’s accounting structure, 100 percent of donations goes toward well construction and public training in sanitation and hygiene. Administrative costs are covered by separate fundraising efforts.

For Renton, the work charity: water does in Africa hits close to home. While volunteering in Ethiopia, Jennifer Renton visited a well that she had funded. It had been built in honor of her friend’s 12-year-old son, who died in accident. The boy’s name, Jackson, is engraved on a plaque.

“It was amazing to meet the people whose lives have been changed because of Jackson’s well,” Renton said. “Some people say Africa is so far away, but I think globally that everyone is our neighbors,” Renton said, adding that she and her family also donate to local charities. “Everyone needs water, food and shelter — it’s simple. People want to be healthy and lead productive lives. … We can do something about that.”

Renton is proud of her daughter’s concern for others. Rosie intends to work her lemonade stand a couple hours each day until she begins the seventh-grade.

“It feels much better to give than to get,” Renton said. “Giving is my love language.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7816, pmadsen@bendbulletin.com