Young entrepreneurs have lemonade stands throughout Copperas Cove
By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press
Although the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in many events being cancelled, dozens of children across Central Texas did not let that stop them from selling their lemonade.
The Greater Fort Hood Area Lemonade Day Weekend kicked off Saturday morning with more than a dozen kids in Copperas Cove, Fort Hood and Killeen selling lemonade and other goodies.
Although Lemonade Day is typically held in May, the community came out to support these young entrepreneurs as they experienced a taste of what running their own business is like.
With the coronavirus, participants had the option to set up a drive-thru stand, a virtual stand or a normal stand and were encouraged to practice proper hygiene and safety measures.
At the Copperas Cove Leader-Press office, Five Hills Ambassador Kaydence Roberts set up her red, dog-themed lemonade stand and sold her purple “Puppy-Licious” lemonade, made using steeped butterfly pea flowers which gave it its purple color. She also had lemon lip gloss, shirts, hats and chips for sale. She also sold raffle tickets for $1 each or $5 for six tickets, for a chance to win a lemonade pitcher Scentsy wax warmer.
Roberts offered a “Buy a Cup, Save a Pup” combo for $30, which included a hat, shirt, two medium drinks, two bags of chips plus a one-year subscription to the Cove Leader-Press, limited to the first 10 customers who purchased this combo.
Roberts, like other lemonade entrepreneurs, wore her mask and made sure to wear gloves and sanitize often.
As a member of the Five Hills Scholarship Pageant Royalty, Roberts has a platform of service, which is to help animals in need.
As a participant of Lemonade Day, Roberts will follow the “Save some, spend some and share some” motto and will be donating a portion of her proceeds to the Copperas Cove Animal Shelter.
She said she didn’t have a specific number in mind.
“I just want to give as much as I can to the animals in the animal shelter,” Roberts said.
Over in front of Bush’s Chicken, Five Hills Junior Miss Five Hills Kadence Coombs and her sister, Miniature Miss Five Hills Joslynn Coombs sold Pink Starburst lemonade, regular lemonade, an assortment of baked goods and t-shirts. Bush’s Chicken donated the ice and also promised to share 10 percent of its sales from Saturday and Sunday, according to their mother, Ashley Coombs.
The Coombs sisters plan to use their money to start a weekend backpack program at Fairview/Miss Jewell Elementary School to provide take home meals to needy students.
Ashley said that the girls stayed busy selling their lemonade to customers at Bush’s.
“It’s turned out really good for us, and these kids have been working hard,” Coombs said.
On Logsdon Street, Santiago, 8, and Mateo Ibarra, 5, set up a drive-thru lemonade stand, with bottled water and prepackaged lemonade mix plus a bag of lemonade cookies for a donation.
Their parents, Jaime and Cecilia Ibarra, helped them as they handed over the water bottles and bags of cookies to customers in their cars.
Santiago and Mateo participated last year as well, according to Cecilia.
She added that she was glad that Lemonade Day still happened this year.
“We still wanted to do it, because we already had explained it to them and everything and they were looking forward to it,” Cecilia said. “They’ve been cooped up at home, so they thought ‘Oh, we’ll be outside for a long, long time.’”
All of the Ibarras’ proceeds will be donated to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, with Jaime and Cecilia matching whatever amount the boys raise.
At the Copperas Cove Walgreen’s, Five Hills Junior Ambassador sold cherry and cherry pineapple lemonade with a candy straw from her Sip, Sip Safe Heroes’ Lemonade stand. Her stand was sponsored by Raising Cane’s. She offered a special combo for $12 where a customer would receive a pink cactus cup, a large Raising Cane’s cup of lemonade and a candy straw.
Sawyer is donating a portion of her Lemonade Day proceeds to Operation Stand Down Central Texas to support her platform of helping the homeless. Sawyer’s stand on Saturday was a green tank to pay homage to her charity of choice and be patriotic. Sawyer also played her violin throughout her time selling lemonade Saturday.
Saturday marked the first time participating for Preteen Miss Five Hills Romella Spitzer, who sold strawberry lemonade and regular lemonade as well as cookies and Skittles. Her Catch the Rainbow stand was inspired by the four colors on the puzzle piece used to raise awareness for autism. Spitzer’s sister has autism, and she is donating a portion of her proceeds to the CCISD Special Education Department to purchase equipment to help students with autism communicate.
This year was also the first year for Ronok, 7, and Isabelle Stansky, 5, who set up their lemonade stand in front of their house on Terry Avenue.
Their mom, Jessica Stansky, said she was surprised at how well it went.
“It’s actually been a lot more generous than I thought it would be today,” Stansky said. “I thought it would be kind of slow but no, people have been coming and been very generous in donations, which is very nice.”
Stansky said she found out about Lemonade Day last minute but decided to sign her children up for it. They hadn’t decided what to spend their proceeds on yet.
“I told them they can do as they wish with their money, and they’re out here working hard to make it,” she added.
The Stansky children sold regular lemonade, pink lemonade and chocolate chip cookies with rainbow sprinkles for $1 each.
“I think it’s awesome. My son is very personable, and he definitely shows a business side of him, you know, entrepreneurship if you will,” Stansky said about her son’s experience selling lemonade.
Ronok and Isabelle were joined by other kids in their neighborhood who took turns flagging cars down as they drove by.
“He’s making me proud. I think it’s great to instill that, you know, they’ve got to learn somewhere and it’s a great start for them,” Stansky added.