The Lemonade Day program has a vision to empower young people by helping them build entrepreneurship skills through the hands-on experience of running their own small businesses.
Kids in Bryan-College Station and across the nation will set up lemonade stands on Saturday, May 6 in front of homes and businesses. The program seeks to demonstrate the value of setting goals, developing a plan and giving back to the community.
Before becoming a national program, Lemonade Day was started in Houston, Texas in 2007 by Michael Holthouse. Lenae Scroggins brought Lemonade Day to Bryan-College Station in 2010 as a program of the BrightMinds Foundation.
“We teach kids to own and operate their own business, a lemonade stand,” Scroggins said. “They learn how to set a goal, make a plan around that goal and execute that plan.”
James Lancaster, Board Chairman of Lemonade Day, said he believes kids often shy away from entrepreneurship, limiting their capabilities. Lancaster said Lemonade Day aims to mold business leaders and build character among kids.
“Many people have perfectly good capabilities but are intimidated by the sound of entrepreneurship,” Lancaster said. “The goal of Lemonade Day is to reach out to expose kids to entrepreneurship at an early age, so they don’t have the fear early on.”
Business freshman Hailey Motsenbocker volunteered to set up for the upcoming event and said she is excited to see the program’s impact across the community.
“We helped put together backpacks that had information and pamphlets about what’s going on Saturday and activities that would help [kids] learn more about how to run a lemonade stand,” Motsenbocker said. “I did a project in high school where kids learned more about finance and entrepreneurship. I got to see how Lemonade Day did a similar thing on a bigger scale and I thought it was really cool.”
Common goals and principles shared by Texas A&M and the Lemonade Day program made recruiting from A&M a logical step in the event planning process, according to Scroggins.
“A&M has a core value of service in mind and we can see that through Big Event and other organizations on campus, so utilizing A&M students is a natural fit,” Scroggins said. “Both [A&M and Lemonade Day] teach students to be self-sufficient and responsible.”
In addition to giving kids the skills to make money, Scroggins said Lemonade Day teaches kids different ways they can use the money they will earn.
“These kids are charitable,” Scroggins said. “A lot of them donate a part of their money.  We encourage them to save the money for their goals as well as spend some and share some if they would like.”
Scroggins said she believes it is important, as community members and citizens, to encourage children in their endeavors, so they can build confidence for the future.
“I would like people to come out and participate in this community event, purchase the lemonade and congratulate the kids,” Scroggins said. “Congratulate them on becoming our next generation of productive citizens and learning how to set a goal. They learned how to write, work and set a plan which is what they can do for the rest of their life.”
Lancaster said cultivating a fun environment with encouragement and support is a key factor in making Lemonade Day a successful event.
“It is important that the community supports the kids and creates a fun environment,” Lancaster said. “Supporting their success and experiencing it as a fun thing is a huge part of encouraging them.”
Lemonade stands will be set up around the Bryan-College Station area on Saturday, May 6. More information about the Lemonade Day program can be found on the Lemonade Day website.