By Steven Gordon, Lemonade Day National President

These words by Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who is well known for his leadership and extreme risk-taking character traits during World War II, are especially meaningful in their power and simplicity.

Giving matters. Gifts of time and talent are priceless.

National Volunteer Week is happening now, April 15 through April 21. The timing could not be better than now to recognize and celebrate the thousands of caring adult mentors, community leaders, sponsors and supporters all over the United States and Canada who are supporting our young entrepreneurs as they prepare to launch their lemonade business this weekend through organized Lemonade Day activities in southern California and in other cities and towns over the next several weeks and months.

Lemonade Day and non-profit organizations of all types and sizes depend on the generosity and commitment of volunteers who donate countless hours to helping a wide range of causes to survive and thrive.  In fact, Lemonade Day national leaders are in the process of recruiting 250,000 or more mentors over the next five years to assist young children of Kindergarten through fifth grade age in registering for Lemonade Day, participating in the Lemonade Day lessons, and hosting a lemonade stand.

Lemonade Day empowers kids today with business and leadership skills that will equip them to start new ventures and create jobs in the future.  Research indicates that the earlier kids are introduced to entrepreneurship, the more likely they are to start a business at some point in their lifetime.  Kids who sign up and get involved in the Lemonade Day program with the help of a relative, friend, teacher, neighbor or other caring adult will learn about business planning, product development, marketing and promotion, customer service, financial management, and charitable giving.  Registering for Lemonade Day is free; however, kids most likely will need some “seed money” to cover basic expenses to make their lemonade, buy cups, create signage, and decorate their stand.   Once the kids earn their own money from their lemonade day sales, they will pay their investor back – then save some, spend some and share some of their profits with a cause that matters to them.

Please join me in thanking all the volunteers who support Lemonade Day and help me as much as possible in enlisting the aid of even more volunteers to make Lemonade Day 2018 extra sweet and special!

I welcome your comments, questions and ideas. Please contact me anytime at steven@lemonadeday.org

ABOUT LEMONADE DAY

Founded in Houston in 2007 by Michael and Lisa Holthouse, Lemonade Day is a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching every child across North America the business and financial skills that are the key ingredients of entrepreneurship.  By learning these skills early in life, children will be better prepared to be successful, financially healthy adults.  Through our fun, hands-on program, kids K-5 are empowered to start their very own business—a lemonade stand—and experience the feeling of earning real money, using 100% of their profit to spend, save and share based on their own goals.

Lemonade Day is hosted in 66 territories in North America and is growing. Over the past 10 years, we have served more than 1 million kids in our kid entrepreneur programs. Within the next five years, Lemonade Day leaders estimate that 250,000 mentors and millions more kids will be hosting lemonade stands in North America and on other continents throughout the world.

Please visit LemonadeDay.org to learn how to participate in Lemonade Day in your city or to donate locally or nationally. Lemonade Day very much appreciates the support of our national sponsor Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers (raising canes.com), who is joined by our in-kind sponsors Reddy Ice Corporation (reddyice.com) and True Citrus (truelemon.com).