On Sunday, 36 lemonade stands blanketed the city as young kids tried their hand at running their own business to raise money for the Stollery Children’s Hospital.
And for Jennifer Cupido and her three children the fundraising mission was personal — they were raising money for a hospital that helped support their cousin while he went through treatment for leukemia.
“It’s always nice when it affects your family and there is something you can do,” Cupido said.
Six-year-old Halle, seven-year-old Blake and 11-year-old Tyson ran their stand from 11a.m. until 3 p.m. and they raised $340.
A Grade 1 classmate of Halle's who was ill also used the Stollery resources.
Cupido said it's nice to be able to give back to an organization that has had a positive impact on their close community.
Lemonade Stand Day is a fundraiser run by Simply Supper and saw 560 lemonade stands run by kids of all ages across Alberta to help raise funds for the Stollery Hospital Foundation.
Monita Chapman, owner of Simply Supper and chair of Lemonade Stand Day said this year, the sixth-annual event saw a record 561 stands set up and manned by 2,000 children.
The organization was raising funds to buy five Giraffe CareStation Omnibeds for the Stollery NICUs: Two for the new Stollery NICU at the Sturgeon Community Hospital in St. Albert, which is slated to open in September and three for the Royal Alexandra Hospital.
The beds will provide a warm and safe environment for northern Alberta’s smallest babies to continue to develop and access for both doctors and parents to be able to interact with their preterm infants. Each bed costs $58,000.
Chapman said that while the day is important to raise funds for the hospital, it is just as important for the kids to try their hands at running a business and making connections with their neighbours and community members.
“I always ask the kids, what is your favourite part of Lemonade Stand Day and I would say almost 75 per cent of them say ‘our neighbors came to visit.’ And that is what this is about. It isn't about raising the money. It's about spending time with your family, learning how to talk to customers, running a little business, becoming a philanthropist, but also spending time with all of your friends and family,” Chapman said.
And for Tracey Barnett Kinniburgh and her three kids, the day was about spening time with their friends and raising funds for the hospital.
Six-year-old David, four-year-old Carson and one-and-a-half-year-old Hayden ran a lemonade stand with five of their friends and the team of kids, all six years and younger, raised around $200.
“We wanted to see how it works with that many kids this time. And just see if we could get along for that length of time running this little lemonade stand. So it was fun to see all their different ideas on how things should be handed out or poured or that kind of thing,” Barnett Kinniburgh said.
Barnett Kinniburgh said while the kids had a ton of fun, it was really important for them to raise the money for a good cause.
“With three boys we use the Stollery quite a bit,” Barnett Kinniburgh said.
“My youngest has asthma and had to be taken by ambulance to the Stollery during an attack once so we definitely want to raise as much money for them as possible.”
Chapman said they will know how much money was raised this year sometime next week and the event will run again next year in August.
