RICHMOND, Utah — Meet Jadee Johnson — every year, the day after Thanksgiving, she puts on her barista apron as Cocoa for a Cause opens up for business. "We have a lot of people that even come from far ways away and they almost make it a tradition,” she said.
Jadee started Cocoa for a Cause in 2016 with just a card table and some hot cocoa. She says it started as a way to raise money to buy presents for friends and family. "Once it started getting a little bit bigger and I started making more money than I needed for that I figured there was other people that needed it more than we did,” Jadee said.
Since then, all the money made at the cocoa stand outside the Johnson’s Richmond home, has been donated to local families and charities and every year the production gets bigger and bigger.
"We just thought if we have a big enough production it will bring people in and hopefully the people will donate and we can help more people,” Jadee’s mom, Becky Johnson, said.
Becky says every year their family spends months preparing for December. "I have a lot of people that always say, ‘Why do you do it? Why the time? Why do you do it?’,” she said. “When you can hand someone an envelope of cash and you know it's really going to change their life, like that look in their eye that's why you do it.”
Last year the Johnson’s donated over $10,000. Since Cocoa for a Cause started they’ve donated over $35,000 — which is more than 12-year-old Jadee could have ever imagined. "I would hope that she would be proud because I feel like everywhere I wanted it to go when I was 12 it ended up going,” Jadee said.
Jadee is now attending school at Utah State University so her parents handle most of the day to day, but she tries to come back as often as possible.
"I feel like I’m in an ever on-going Hallmark movie a little bit,” Jadee said. “I feel like I live and breathe Christmas all the time and every time December 26th hits i'm like, ‘ok what's next when is christmas going to start again?’.”
Cocoa for a Cause is open through December 23rd at 576 S 100 E Richmond, Utah.
