Selfless Axl and his lemonade changes lives through headspace Bega donation

Now at 12, his successful lemonade stand fills a gazebo and has raised thousands to help worthy causes like headspace Bega, where he donated over $2800 in 2022, and $3140 in 2023.

Axl's was the highest donation received by the foundation's Bega office, which caught the eye of headspace CEO Jason Trethowan during a trip to the Bega Valley on February 1.

He said money raised for headspace goes towards supporting young people through different events, and through these events it would bring youth closer together and become more comfortable and open to talk about their mental health.

"The funds he has raised is amazing in itself, but what is incredible for Axl is that he will change lives of people he'll never meet and it's a really deep thinking to do around that," Mr Trethowan said.

"I know that there will be many young people who will be inspired by what he's done, but will also benefit from the work of the local headspace Bega team who will provide additional supports that are much needed."

Axl began selling lemonade at festivals during 2019 when the district was hit by the devastating 2019/20 Black Summer bushfires.

"There was a lot of people who lost their homes and we had a producer for my dad's catering business and she lost everything, farm, garden, and so we started to donate profits to her," Axl said.

"And it just grew from there."

"When I heard about the Wanderer Festival coming to Pambula Beach in 2022, I knew I wanted to be a part of it [and] a three day festival was going to mean a whole lot of lemons.

"We had a very busy winter, madly collecting and juicing, and when I learned that headspace was partnering with the festival, I couldn't think of a better service to direct my fundraising towards."

Axl's Lemonade sourced locally grown lemons from Merimbula to Millingandi, Pambula to Eden, and Bega to Kalaru, revealing the homemade drink was a 100 per cent Bega Valley produced product.

His mother, Cristina, said her heart wanted to explode she was that proud of what her son had achieved, and shared how she was 100 per cent behind him as he looked to the future, suggesting that bottling may be on the cards.

"If anyone has any local lemons that they want to pass our way, we'd be grateful for it," she said with a smile.