Making Lemonade

Since joining DRC in November, Charles, one of our fourteen-year-olds, has developed a passion for cooking and experimenting with recipes he finds online. On his first day, finding complete freedom in the kitchen, he made a pitcher of lemonade using bottled lemon juice.

His creative endeavors have been diverse over the past six months, extending beyond the kitchen. One of his latest projects was a black and white crocheted cat bed. Initially, he had intended to create a cow-patterned blanket, which he had spent all night designing in his head, but he ran out of yarn before completing it, so he pivoted to make the cat bed.

The one thing that has remained true is Charles' comfort level and willingness to jump into new projects and ideas with both feet, and a commitment to problem solving, without hesitation or fear of failing.

Now, during our last few days of this academic year, Charles has taken on an even bigger project that neatly circles back to his first day and that pitcher of lemonade, but also includes his keen interest in entrepreneurship.

Charles has started a lemonade business. He has upped his game, using real lemons and specially flavored syrups like black raspberry and strawberry. Each cup of lemonade is made to order with freshly cut-up and squeezed lemons while the customer waits.

He set up a lemonade stand at his house last Sunday and made $72. This past Monday, he set it up in front of DRC and recruited his friends, who are between the ages of 6 and 16, to hold signs and yell "lemonade" at passing cars. They successfully connected with folx who were happy to support their endeavors, and sold an additional $37 worth of lemonade. Every night this week, he set up the stand again at home and made even more sales (and garnered a few mosquito bites in the process).

Charles' Mom is his financial backer. In addition to the ingredients, she purchased 32-ounce containers with lids that serve as cups, a lemon-themed tablecloth, and a small bowl for the lemons.

I asked if he wanted to learn some accounting skills to keep track of expenses and income, and he told me that he already had a system devised at home. He also created a personalized logo and made stickers for each cup.

His original plan was to make it a fundraiser for DRC. This past week, after paying his Mom for supplies, he donated $103!

Yesterday, DRC had the opportunity to set up a craft table for kids to create art at the Potsdam Co-op during a special event for a Canton Apples hard ciders tasting. After clearing it with the Co-op management, I invited Charles to bring his lemonade stand. He had a great afternoon and made an additional $50. He informed me that 75% of the proceeds would go to DRC, and the other 25% would be used to reimburse his Mom, and maybe have enough to start a fund to go to Great Escape. It seems like a fair division to me. Thank you to Jessie and Dustina at the Co-op for inviting us. We look forward to future opportunities.

Charles also plans to sell lemonade this summer in front of his house and at the Lisbon Beach. I predict a very successful summer for this kiddo.

Our future relies on kids like Charles who are courageous enough to pursue their creativity and passions while developing skills to navigate the world. We need more young people who are unafraid to jump in, follow their interests, make mistakes, and view them as learning opportunities. Unfortunately, our inherently coercive educational systems incentivize convention with rewards and punishment and rarely support the outside-of-the-box innovative potential these kids have to offer.

At DRC, we are happy to follow each child's lead, lend support when requested, expect the possibility of messiness and chaos, and then stand back and watch all the incredible learning opportunities ensue. Only this time, we had the added sweet benefit of sampling delicious lemonade through the process, as he developed the recipe.

DRC News

One week left for our Canton Crew! We spent plenty of time outside this past week.

The Pop-up Peeps enjoyed their time at the Norwood and Massena Libraries. They have two more weeks - finishing on May 29th.  

This year's regular participants with their mentor, Janine.