What’s better than a nice, cold glass of freshly squeezed lemonade on a hot summer day? For Sophia Benicewicz, a lemonade stand served as more than just an opportunity to sell refreshments to the neighborhood.
After hearing stories about her Papou (grandfather), Lou Palios, and Project Purple, Sophia knew she wanted to do something to give back.
“[I had the idea] when I was down in North Carolina, and I saw some girls selling lemonade and bracelets,” said Sophia. “So when I came back I told my babysitter that I wanted to do a lemonade stand.”
Making Lemonade out of Lemons
With the help of her babysitter, mom, sister, and Uncle Alex, they went to work putting together their lemonade stand.
Sophia made the freshly squeezed lemonade and bracelets that they would sell at the stand.
Ms. Kara, Sophia’s babysitter, helped make T-shirts that featured a QR code that patrons of the lemonade stand could scan to learn more about Project Purple. She also created signs and sidewalk chalk art surrounding the lemonade stand.
Sophia’s mom, Stacey, and Uncle Alex helped create a plan to help make the lemonade stand the best that it could be.
“Sophia would call me twice a week, maybe more, asking about ideas, brainstorming prizes, and brainstorming ideas of what to sell,” said Alex Palios, Board Treasurer for Project Purple. “We had probably 15 phone calls in total, which was fun.”
Addie, Sophia’s sister, helped get people to the lemonade stand by knocking on doors in the neighborhood.
“I think [my sister] is the one that helped the most,” said Sophia. “She went biking to other people’s houses and she knocked on their door and said, ‘We’re having a lemonade stand and everything’s $1. Would you like to come?’”
Neighborhood friends were helpful, too. Mackenzie held up a lemonade sign to encourage cars to stop for the stand, and even biked home to get more lemons when we were running low.
2nd Annual Lemonade Stand
Watching her daughters work together to fundraise for Project Purple was a special moment, but it is also not the first time they have run a lemonade stand in support of Project Purple.
“Last year we did this as well, and when we were setting up my younger daughter, Addie, was outside helping and she brought up this leaf to me that she found,” said Sophia’s mom, Stacey. “And it was in the perfect shape of a heart. […] And it just kinda kind of really hit home for us.”
Through the stages of planning and executing her lemonade stands over the last two years, Sophia says that she learned an important lesson.
“You can’t do it all by yourself. You’re going to need a lot of help.”
Are you interested in having your own fundraising event like Sophia’s? Click here or send us an email to get started: info@projectpurple.org. To donate, click here.
