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Youth entrepreneurship program continues to make impact

A cloudy morning made way for sunshine and blue sky as the third annual Lemonade Day kicked off in Manchester Thursday, May 16.

The youth entrepreneurship program is hosted by The Manchester Area Chamber of Commerce with community support.

All fourth grade students in both Manchester City and Coffee County Schools participated in the program which featured 23 lemonade stands at schools and businesses throughout the city.

College Street Elementary fourth grade teacher Madison Cantrell said it has been an exciting time for students preparing for Lemonade Day.

“They came up with all that you see here,” she said of her class’s offerings at their Marcrom’s Pharmacy location.

Cantrell said the nonprofit that will benefit from their sales is the Manchester City Schools Family Resource Center.

“So the money that we make is going to go right back into our families at Manchester City Schools,” she said.

For the portion they are able to keep, Cantrell said her students will be using that to have a pizza party.

Another one of the College Street Elementary lemonade stands was located at J & G Pizza and Steakhouse. In addition to lemonade, they were also offering for sale cookies, cake pops and lemon scented wax melts.

Students began preparing for Lemonade Day by reading a book titled “Lemonade War,” which is about some fourth grade students working at competing lemonade stands to raise money to donate to a charity. Students at this College Street Elementary stop said they would be donating a portion of the money they raised to The Dusty Elam Foundation.

Chamber Director Katy Riddle said the Manchester community came together once again to make a successful Lemonade Day for the students.

“The greatest thing is to see these teachers who are inspired by not only their teachers and their schools but also these businesses that host them because they are so encouraging and they just go out of their way to make it a fantastic day for these kids,” she said.

Riddle said Lemonade Day is the most challenging program organized by The Manchester Area Chamber of Commerce each year.

“It is challenging logistically, we need a ton of people to help us to pull it off, but the thing is we have that,” Riddle said. “The Chamber right now has some of the best members ever. I think we had close to 50 volunteers that helped in some way shape or form.”

Riddle said 455 students from eight elementary schools participated in the event this year, raising $26,888.54.

Since its inception in 2007 in Houston, Texas, Lemonade Day has grown from serving 2,700 children in one city to more than one million in more than 80 licensed markets throughout the United States and other countries.

“Lemonade Day has developed a playbook to unlock youth potential and talent through opportunity creation,” Nicole Cassier-Mason, Lemonade Day National chief executive officer, said in a statement. “Our program is infused with life skills, business and financial literacy, character education, career exploration and mentorship.”

For more information about Manchester’s Lemonade Day, visit www.manchestertnchamber.org.