Sue Sitter/PCT Solid Ground Coffee baristas Melodie Wright, left, and Robin Foss show cups topped with “Pray for Aspen” stickers.

When customers at restaurants and coffee shops feel like spreading cheer in their community, they sometimes decide to pay their own tabs and cover the next customer’s order, too.

Rugby’s Aspen Heisler, who already earned a “Kids with Character” award at Ely Elementary School as a third grader three years ago, decided to spread some cheer of his own at one of his favorite businesses, Solid Ground Coffee in Rugby.

Before Aspen left for Minnesota for spine surgery to repair damage done by neuroblastoma, a rare cancer that had settled in his back as an infant, he decided to pay for 100 drinks at Solid Ground.

Solid Ground employees happily obliged, placing stickers made for Aspen by Wild Minds Studios, another of Aspen’s favorite businesses. Wild Minds Studio made the stickers 11 years ago during Aspen’s initial battle with cancer. The stickers read, “Pray for Aspen.”

“We put those stickers on the drinks and people are paying it forward,” said barista Robin Foss. “He loves seeing it on Facebook. We’ve had a lot of money made from this. It’s still going on.”

The pay-it-forward chain began at 6:30 a.m. April 19. As of April 27, barista Melodie Wright reported it was still going strong.

Aspen’s mom, Randi Heisler, says he’s been cancer-free for several years.

“He had treatment until he was four and is now twelve,” Heisler said in a message. “This surgery was to repair his spine due to all the damage done during treatment/surgeries/and tumor compressing his spine for so long.”

“We’ve gone back to the University of Minnesota every three to six months for last 10 years to monitor. We thought he’d get to age six before intervention, so to have made it this long was a miracle,” Randi Heisler said.

“The surgery was necessary so he didn’t lose function or paralysis as his spine progressively just keeps getting worse as he grows if that makes sense,” Randi Heisler added.

Heisler said Aspen is an active sixth-grader who lives with some restrictions, such as no contact sports. She said she’s still tagged in photos of the stickers, which show up in all sorts of locations.

“I think it’s spreading around the state,” Heisler said.

Aspen came home to Rugby April 26, where he’s resting and battling pain from his surgery, according to his mom. Heisler said Aspen will be home for the remainder of the school year.

Heisler reported other coffee shops had started their own “pay it forward” chains. She said the shops “had record breaking sales and that makes me so happy for local businesses.”