Little squeezers prepare for Lemonade Day

By MIKE BARTOSZEK

Cove Leader Press

At 9 a.m. on Saturday morning, eight highly motivated and very young entrepreneurs came together at Chick-Fil-A in Copperas Cove to learn the secrets behind The Cow’s famous lemonade.

Led by Rita Hogan, Restaurant Marketing Director of Chick-Fil-A Copperas Cove and Ally Torres-Olszynsk, City Director for Lemonade Day Fort Cavazos Area, the cohort of young business owners went to work learning the secrets of the lemonade making industry.

“They’re going to start by cutting and squeezing the lemons,” said Olszynsk, “then add water, sugar then mix to get that perfect famous lemonade taste, possibly even adding additional fruits to help create some unique flavors too”

Under the direction of Hogan, the band of 6- to 9-year-olds went to work, first by cutting lemons in half to prepare them to be squeezed, then twisting the lemons around a cone shaped citrus juicer, and finally pouring that juice into a pitcher with water and just the right amount of sugar to get that famous lemonade flavor.

“Cutting the lemons is the hardest part,” said nine-year-old Ian Montes-Rivera, while slowly sawing his way through a lemon with a plastic knife. “I’m doing a lemonade stand with my brother Ethan,” he continued, “We’re going to call it the Pokémon Cafe and make our lemonade pokemon themed.”

The duo plans to build a Poké Ball stand and hope to place it outside of Evolutions Trading near the Killeen Walmart, where they will sell Pokémon themed lemonade matching the colors to the Pokémon.

“The idea is that the colors and flavors would tie into the Pokémon.” said the boy’s mother Kim Montes-Rivera. “They came up with the idea all on their own, even down to their slogan Got to Drink them All.”

The Little Squeezers event, hosted by Chick-Fil-A in Copperas Cove, is part of a larger nationwide event called Lemonade Day, when thousands of young entrepreneurs across the country learn to run their own business, a lemonade stand.

The event culminates on the weekend of May 4th, where the young business owners will set up their stands and get to see firsthand the fruits of their labor as they sell lemonade to the public.

“There’s a lot of value provided to children who participate in Lemonade Day,” Olszynsk said. “Financial literacy is a big part of it. We teach children how to save money and how to spend their money and how to give back to the community by donating some of their money to animal shelters, homeless shelters and places like that.”

The young businesspeople even have to the chance pitch their lemonade stand to a panel of judges who will help them develop confidence in their public speaking skills, called Best of the Zest.

“We coach them how to talk to an audience including our panel of judges. They’ll have to pitch their Lemonade Day stand business to the judges who will coach them so that they are more prepared to ask local businesses if they’re able to set up their lemonade stand at their store, or seek funding from family and friends.

More information about Lemonade can be found at Lemonadeday.org/fort-cavazos-area,