PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – This weekend marks the Boys and Girls Club of Portland’s first-ever Lemonade Day – dedicated to teaching kids life skills by running their own lemonade stands.
“We’re bringing it here locally to teach kids business skills, financial literacy and entrepreneurship. And so, our kids will be participating in a competition to see who can sell the most lemonade on Saturday, August 12,” said Terry Johnson, the CEO of Portland metro area Boys and Girls clubs.
During Lemonade Day, Johnson said kids will learn communication, critical thinking, presentation and teamwork skills.
“What we’re doing is starting to introduce kids to the world of work earlier than high school and so, we’re starting at third and fourth grade versus waiting until later,” Johnson said. “Our kids will be able to build life skills and transferable soft skills that they can take into the world of work as they age in school and prepare for post-secondary pathways.”
Johnson added, “they’re building their lemonade stands from scratch and they’re coming up with their recipes, they’re coming up with their team mottos, they created their team logos and they’re actually marketing a real product and then they’re taking it to the market to interact with real customers and they’re competing for big prize money.”
Five teams will be competing for $7,500 in cash prizes, in addition to profits made at their stands. The lemonade stands will be at Advantis Credit Union on North Lombard; Good Coffee in Slabtown; Por Que No on North Mississippi and the Center for Equity and Inclusion on Northeast Alberta.
