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An adorable letter about a lemonade stand was shared on social media hundreds of times.

What first began as neighbours supporting a young girl down the street soon transformed into a much bigger event.

An inspiring six-year-old from Essex decided to make a difference, and her letter - and lemonade stand - went viral.

This is what happened.

She wrote letters to her neighbours

We have all been affected by the devastating bush fires which are currently sweeping through Australia.

Images of injured animals, and homes destroyed have encouraged many of us to do what we can to help.

Online fundraisers have already raised millions of pounds to be donated to help battle the blazes.

But one special girl who was so upset by what she saw that she decided to get involved.

Keira Markides, from Harlow, was really upset when she found out about the people and animals who are suffering down under.

After learning all about the fires at school, and discussing how they can help, Keira decided she wanted to run her own lemonade stand to raise money.

Early last week the six-year-old told her parents, Angela and Phil, about her plans and Keira wrote a letter to her neighbours inviting them to come and purchase a cup.

The family dropped copies of the letter to houses down their street hoping that a few people would come along and support it.

Keira made a poster and was very excited about the stall.

Angela Markides, 37, Keira's mum said: "She wanted to set the stall up the night before.

"We were hoping about 20 people would come along so Keira would feel good about doing something to help.

"We were hoping that she would make £20 and feel very happy."

(Image: Angela Markides)

What they weren't aware of was that Keira's letter had been shared on Facebook, and had hundreds of comments.

On Saturday evening, (January 11), one of their neighbours phoned them to let them know how many people planned on turning up.

Angela said: "We saw all of the comments and panicked as we had only made five litres of lemonade.

"I sent my husband to the shop to buy more lemons, he felt weird going to the shop alone at night for lots of lemons.

"I then stayed up to make all of the lemonade.

"We rallied the troops from our friends to come and help."

Queues down the street

(Image: Angela Markides)

The day of the lemonade stand arrived, and the family were overwhelmed with the support Keira got.

There were queues down the street, and Keira even had three community police officers visit her stall.

Whilst they had hoped for 20 customers, hundreds of people turned up to help Keira raise the money.

Angela said: "It was amazing to see the support.

"We never expected it to do what it did."

(Image: Angela Markides)

Even though they had used 104 lemons to make 20 litres of pink lemonade, they still sold out.

"We had to use lemon squash when all of the lemonade sold out," Angela continued.

"Keira kept adding to the stall, selling sweets and giving people biscuits."

So many people turned up that there was a queue down the street of people waiting to buy some lemonade.

Angela added: "There was well over 100 people.

"One man gave Keira three ten pound notes, or peach money as she calls it.

"One lady wanted to give Keira and her friend a pound each to say well done, but I reminded Keira that the idea was to raise money for Australia so she put it in the pot."

On the day, Keira and her lemonade stand took an incredible £898 and there are still people dropping money to the house because they couldn't make it yesterday (Sunday, January 12).

As well as the cash, a 'JustGiving' page was also set up by the family, and almost £1,600 has been donated.

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Angela said: "I'm trying to make her understand how much money this is, and what it could achieve.

"When we first asked her how much she wanted to raise she said £88.

"She is only six so really doesn't understand money, she wanted to sell each cup for 1p, and then £2.

"She kept saying 'look how much money I have'."

A heart of gold

(Image: Angela Markides)

Angela described Keira as a little girl with a heart of gold who always wants to do things to help other people and animals.

She said: "Keira feels very sad when she sees bad things happen people or animals.

"Her little heart strings start tugging and she wants to help.

"She has very good intentions, but doesn't quite understand how it works yet, she just wants to give things to everyone."

Angela said that all of Keira's teachers describe her as 'wonderful' and say that she will always help other children if they need it.

Nature and wildlife is very important to Keira, even at her young age she knows that it is very important to protect it.

"If she even saw a child stamping on a worm she would go and tell them off because they are hurting nature," Angela explained.

"If she sees any rubbish in people's gardens she will pick it up because she doesn't want them to have it there."

Keira always wants to do something to help others, and plans on always being that way.

Her mum explained: "She has a very good imagination.

"She says that on Mondays she will be a police officer, on Tuesdays a vet, and on Wednesdays she will be a doctor.

"She just wants to do things to help other people."

International recognition

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Angela has been inundated with messages about Keira, and the 'Just Giving' page continues to get new donations.

Angela said: "The best message I received was a woman that said to Keira, 'I am so happy that we have you as part of our future generation'."

The family had been very conscious about the fires in Australia before Keira's stall, as they have quite a few friends who live there, but Angela says that Keira's hard work has made them all care even more.

Gratitude from down under

A firefighter, Lars Steele-Mills, from Australia is tackling the devastating bush fires with crews across the country.

He found out about Keira's stall and got in touch with the family.

He said: "My name is Lars, I happen to be a volunteer firefighter with the New South Wales RFS in Australia. There was recently a photo of me on the fire ground with an echidna that was put up on Facebook that your neighbour Helen Luff commented on.

(Image: Angela Markides)

"She mentioned your daughter was raising money through a lemonade stall toward the Salvos and their Australian bushfire appeal. She also posted a note from your daughter.

"If all of this is correct, on behalf of my brigade and all Australians I simply wanted to pass on my sincere thanks to Keira - she has done an incredible job and her efforts show compassion, determination & focus well above her years. I read Helens comment, and her note on my return from one of many deployments to the fires, and it was incredibly touching.

"I would just like her to know that her efforts are being noticed (from the other side of the world), that they are incredibly appreciated, and that she is making a difference.

"Should Keira and yourself ever find yourselves in Australia and wish to jump on a fire truck and visit the station, you will always be welcome.

"Once again, thanking you and Keira for your care and generosity."

Keira's 'JustGiving' page is still taking donations, you can find it here.