How Can I Bring Lemonade Day to My City?

BY GUEST BLOGGER DEBBIE NAZARIAN, LEMONADE DAY NATIONAL DIRECTOR

Lemonade Day

 

Introduction from Steven Gordon, Lemonade Day National President:

This week, I want to turn the blogging reins over to Debbie Nazarian, Lemonade Day National Director. Debbie is about to celebrate 10 years at Lemonade Day! She works tirelessly to bring Lemonade Day to new cities around the world. She is the first person our City Directors work with to get Lemonade Day up and running in their communities. She has such dedication to Lemonade Day and her enthusiasm for our youth entrepreneurship movement is infectious! I asked Debbie to talk about the process to bring Lemonade Day to a community. Take it away, Debbie!

 

Thank you, Steven!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with how Lemonade Day expands to new cities across the nation and world, it first starts with interest from within the community – most often a Chamber of Commerce, university, community non-profit, or local entrepreneur or business leader that understands the need for and benefits of childhood entrepreneurship education. I love sharing the powerful impact Lemonade Day can have on children by teaching them at an early age to believe in themselves through the knowledge, confidence and life skills they learn through Lemonade Day.  We have seen the incredible power of the program through the over one million children that have participated since 2007 and we want every child to have the opportunity to benefit from this amazing program!

Lemonade Day Bismarck

Once the interested organization or individual is signed on as the license holder to the program in their community, they receive training for their City Director and leadership teams. During the training, we look at the strengths of both the licensed organization and the city to create a model for Lemonade Day implementation that plays to their strengths and ensures a successful program.  New cities continue to receive support throughout their first year from the entire national staff.

This year, COVID-19 presented Lemonade Day with some huge challenges. Our national team worked hard to provide new resources to respond to remote learning program needs and an option for cities that are prevented from doing physical stands on Lemonade Day this year. Lemonade Day, My Way is a new program that gives children options to do Lemonade Day “their way” including the option of running an online lemonade business. To provide children with additional inspiration and encouragement, we asked several of our super-star Lemonade Day youth to film videos to share their experiences with Lemonade Day participants and how they went on to create successful businesses. 

But the real heroes are our City Directors who are committed to making Lemonade Day happen.  I’m so incredibly proud of them. They have always led by example and are great role models, but this year, more than ever, they’ve modeled to children in their communities the true attributes of an entrepreneur… courage to forge ahead despite the obstacles, belief in the need for and importance of the program, and determination in finding creative ways to navigate new and challenging obstacles.  How many times have we heard, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade?” We are living through a time that future generations will read about in history books, and all of us will have stories to tell…stories about how this time made us stronger and better together.

Lemonade Day Puerto Rico

If you are interested in learning more about bringing Lemonade Day to your community, I would love to talk with you!  Please email me at debbie@lemonadeday.org. Back to you, Steven.

Thank you, Debbie, for all you do for Lemonade Day and our city program. For anyone interested in registering children for free, you can do so by visiting https://lemonadeday.org/find-your-city If you are not in a Lemonade Day city, you can participate through our Raising Cane's partnership by visiting https://lemonadeday.org/raising-canes. Kids can access the Lemonopolis online lesson program from any device anytime from anywhere. 

Please check out www.lemonadeday.org for information and updates and follow us on our social media platforms!

I want to thank Debbie Nazarian for her great blog this week. I welcome your comments, questions and suggestions. Please send me an email at any time at Steven@lemonadeday.org.

In the meantime, stay great and stay safe!

 

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