Lemonade Day puts youth in business

With a beautiful weather weekend in the forecast, there should be plenty of outdoor hustle and bustle going on. Lots of folks, we expect, will be out and about getting yards ready for summer, shopping or maybe making the rounds of garage sales.

Whatever your plans, we hope you will take time to support some budding young local entrepreneurs on Saturday, when Lemonade Day Alaska will put about 50 Valley kids, ages 4 to 13, behind the counters of their own businesses.

This is the third year that Alaska youth will be participating in Lemonade Day, a nationwide endeavor that teaches kids the skills they need to be successful in the future. The program, which has been in existence since 2007, helps kids learn to set goals, develop a business plan, establish a budget, seek investors, provide customer service, and give back to the community.

At the end of the day, children keep the revenue earned at their businesses and are encouraged to save a little, spend a little and give a little to their favorite charity. While there is no shortage of worthy community organizations to donate to, we’d offer up The Children’s Place as a fitting recipient of Lemonade Day donations.

The private, nonprofit children’s advocacy center has served abused children since 1999. It is a favored charity of local Realtor Kibe Lucas, who serves on the board and is also the major sponsor of the Frontiersman’s Lemonade Day outreach.

Launched in 2007 in Houston, Texas, Lemonade Day has grown from 2,700 kids in one city to 150,000 kids in 36 cities across America and Canada. With the help of partners like Google, Lemonade Day will bring this entrepreneurial experience to 1 million kids in 100 cities across America, sparking entrepreneurship and empowering youth in a way that’s never been done on this scale.

Lemonade Day has been active in Alaska for three years, thanks to the generous support of Wells Fargo, Fred Meyer and others. But it took the efforts of the Mat-Su Resource Conservation and Development council to bring the program to the Valley. It has grown from 1,000 participants in its first year to an anticipated 3,500 registered youth statewide this spring.

We applaud this kind of community effort and believe it is worthy of support.

Today’s youth can become tomorrow’s entrepreneurs, and a lemonade stand can be the first step in that direction. Lemonade Day is the perfect opportunity for a community to show kids they care while training the next generation of businessmen and women.

You can find a list of Mat-Su Valley Lemonade Day stands on Page B7 in today’s Frontiersman.

• $285,000: Total earned by Alaska kids during Lemonade Day 2012

• $68,000: Proceeds donated to local charities in 2012

• 52: Percentage of participating youth who opened their first savings account