The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Students run charitable lemonade stand
The students of All Saints School of St. John Vianney look forward to their annual lemonade stand..
Every winter many people participate in seasonal activities such as ice skating and building snowmen, but the pre-kindergarten students of All Saints School of St. John Vianney in Wickliffe look forward to their annual wintertime lemonade stand.
Mary Rainey’s pre-K students learn and build social skills as they make and sell the lemonade themselves. Over the past five years, it has grown into a schoolwide service project, with all the funds going to the pediatric cancer charity Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.
Rainey said she was inspired to pursue the project when she read to her students the book “Lemonade in Winter: A Book about Two Kids Counting Money” by E. Lockhart.
“It’s a story about a brother and sister who decide to have a lemonade stand in the wintertime,” Rainey said. “They’re discouraged because they don’t think they’ll get many customers, but it turns out that they ended up selling some lemonade and earning enough to buy a couple of Popsicles for themselves.”
She said the book introduces her students to the idea of economics and being able to recognize money.
“The topic of the book really lent itself to these curriculum areas, so I thought we could do it as a class project and at the time I had also become aware of the charity Alex’s Lemonade Stand,” Rainey said.
Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation works to fund research, raise awareness and support families facing childhood cancer.
Rainey said all money raised in her students’ lemonade stand is donated to the charity. She estimates that over the years they’ve donated over $1,000.
“The very first year we just invited the faculty and staff members to come in and I think we raised $25. Then we expanded it every year where the teachers would bring their classes down, so it’s really become a school-wide service project,” Rainey said.
The students held their lemonade stand on Jan. 30 and prepared for the sale by squeezing lemons and mixing their ingredients together.
Rainey said the activity is a well-rounded experience for her students because they’re able to use skills from across subjects.
“It’s a lot of math activities when we’re measuring and science because we’re making a solution,” she said. “We’re learning fine motor skills with them actually doing the squeezing of the lemons. We’re recognizing coins because the kids will be taking the money from their fellow students and using social skills to welcome customers.”
Even though they are working, Rainey said her students find plenty of fun throughout the activity.
She said her former students look forward to coming back to buy lemonade every year too.
“I’m really proud of my kids,” she said. “Even though they’re young, they’re learning about serving others and I think that really does make an impact when they understand why we’re doing this. It’s not just for fun, but we’re trying to help someone else.”