Turning Lemons into Lessons
Whoever thought that lemonade stands couldn’t be profitable hasn’t met Jade. The Brookside School fourth grader participated in a national program that teaches youth how to start and operate their own business by making and selling lemonade.
Simply called Lemonade Day, the program helps young people link up with a mentor and themselves become entrepreneurs, by setting goals, making plans, and following through. After she paid back her investor and covered her overhead costs, Jade chose to share the profits from her Lemonade stand from last weekend with the Baldwin Center. The program encourages participants to “spend a little, save a little, and share a little.”
As Jade was setting up her plan, she located a vendor willing to host her stand: Backcountry North, an outdoor specialty retailer with locations in Birmingham and Traverse City. Through conversations with the owners and other local businesspeople, Jade was directed to the Baldwin Center because of its own outdoors-programming: bike trips for kids, adventure programs, canoe trips, and camping.
“Jade learned a lot about the difficulty of work: it’s hard to earn a buck,” shared her mother Ingrid. “95oF that day, she’s standing in the sun, and she realized that it’s not easy to run a business. When we got home, we talked about the experience and the importance of giving back – the spirit of giving. She’s really learned a lot.”
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