Two Kutztown friends hosted a charity lemonade stand to raise money for the Animal Rescue League of Berks County.
Ajax David, 11, and his friend Dov Referson, 10, set up the lemonade stand in front of Kutztown Notary on Saturday, Aug. 10, selling organic lemonade and organic jalapeno lemonade with 20% of all proceeds going to the ARL. Everything was sustainable including compostable cups and paper straws.
Ajax, a rising sixth grader at Circle of Seasons, and Dov, a rising fifth grader at Kutztown Elementary School, who both live in Kutztown, enjoyed the experience.
Ajax liked that he got to work with his friend and that they made a lot of money for the Animal Rescue League.
“I also liked that the person who had a shop where we were located stopped by, and that a lot of people told a few interesting stories while they got their lemonade,” said Ajax.
Dov liked that he got to set the stand up with his grandmother, and that so many people donated to the Animal Rescue League.
“So many people would stop their car in the middle of traffic to donate to the ARL,” said Dov.
Ajax said that they had a great time doing a near-identical stand two years ago, so they wanted to do the same type of thing this summer.
“I also wanted to do it as a fun little experience for the last two weeks of summer. I also wanted to donate to the animals because we got our two cats (Puff and Brooklyn) at the Animal Rescue League, and donate to Puff and Brooklyn’s friends!” said Ajax.
Dov learned that the more effort you put into it, the more people come.
“When I was doing sign waving, a lot of people came. I think more people came because a charity was involved,” he said.
“I feel a lot of people liked it because it was organic, which is rare to find at most restaurants, and we also added a few fancy components, like paper umbrellas,” said Ajax. “A lot of people had the regular lemonade, but a lot of people still liked the component of jalapeño lemonade.”
They hope that the funds raised by their stand help people adopt shelter animals.
“And it will help the animal population and help people to adopt because there is a big population of cats that aren’t adopted,” said Ajax. “We both love animals.”
For Ajax, his favorite part of working the stand was the people.
“I like meeting people from the community and seeing friends who stopped by,” he said. “It was a nice way to end the summer.”
Ajax would recommend other kids set up a lemonade stand for a charity.
“It’s a way to help the community and attracts a lot of profit,” he said.
Familiar with organic business, his parents, Robyn Jasko and Paul David, opened the first organic and local food café in Kutztown and a farm-to-bottle hot sauce company, both of which they have since sold to new owners who are carrying on the legacy.
“A few years ago, Ajax put a lemonade stand on his summer bucket list, and I told him I would help him,” said his mother, Robyn. “As a social impact entrepreneur myself, I always love to include a local and charitable angle into anything we do, and encouraged the boys to think of a local organization we could donate a percentage of the proceeds to.”
Ajax and Dov picked the Animal Rescue League.
“I think it’s important to not be a one-way street type of business, and always try to use entrepreneurialism to improve your community as well,” said Robyn.
She was greatly inspired by the book “Get Big Fast and Do More Good,” which she read when starting her business that encouraged new entrepreneurs to build social impact into their business models.
“I mentioned the idea to the boys at the beginning to add a charity component and they ran with it,” she said. “I also wanted to show them that business can do more than make money; it can make real change in the world, even on a micro-level, and I was so glad they had a chance to experience that firsthand.”
Robyn said that Ajax and Dov did most of the work to make the stand from creating the signs to even calling Kutztown Notary to request permission to hold their stand in front of the business. Dov’s grandmother helped set up as well. The boys also put up flyers around Kutztown to spread the word.
While Robyn did take Ajax shopping for ingredients, the boys made the lemonade themselves, and even juiced the jalapeño for the spicy lemonade.
“They also had the idea to get the paper straws and umbrellas, which I thought were so cute! Customers loved them,” said Robyn. “We made sure everything was compostable and organic.”
“At first, Ajax didn’t like that the compostable cups were more expensive, but I showed him how to do the math to price a product, and it really only cost a few pennies more to create a zero-footprint stand,” she added.
Robyn hopes that Ajax and Dov learned that they could create a business that was sustainable, profitable, and helped a charity in their community. They also had to learn to price a product, and do some quick math when figuring out change when customers were lined up.
“They did great,” she said.
What was the feedback like?
“Customers loved the lemonade, and the boys were so great at managing the stand,” said Robyn. “It was such a positive, uplifting experience — so many people were so generous, and were excited to help out the animals at ARL.”
Robyn loved how supportive everyone was from Kutztown Notary to the many neighbors, friends, and other business owners who came out to support the boys.
“It was so nice to see the community support the kids and ARL like that,” she said.
Paul David, Ajax’s dad, added: “I am so proud of the boys — and I love that they helped raise money for the Berks Animal Rescue League.”
Ajax recently dropped off the proceeds at the ARL and received a tour.
“It was so amazing to see so many animals being helped!” said Robyn.
Source: Berkshire mont
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