The Martinsville Youth Development Center hosts their first Lemonade Day Stand!

Each year, young children during their summer break host a lemonade stand at the end of their driveway in hopes to earn some extra money for various goals. This fun activity for youth teaches them valuable skills that they can apply to their futures. The Martinsville Youth Development Center offered this program for the first time during the 2023-2024 school year to empower youth through entrepreneurship and self-reliance. This hands-on program taught youth the ins and outs of starting a business and what it takes to keep it operating. The skills they learn and apply to their lemonade stand will include problem solving, communication skills, improve self-esteem, financial goal setting, character development, and business literature. In addition to the skills they will learn, MYDC youth will also learn to create a logo, develop pricing sheets, profit margins, and marketing skills for the event.

The impact from the 2023-2024 program had tremendous impact encouraging youth to think outside the box as they developed the plans to sale lemonade to our beautiful community. They worked together to market, prepare, set goals, and host a successful Lemonade Day stand. They also chose to donate 10% of their sales to our local humane society by purchasing some of their most needed items.

Morgan County’s at-risk youth lack confidence and knowledge to overcome generational poverty. Youth in our community do not believe they have what it takes to be successful. With programs such as Lemonade Day, youth will learn valuable skills to overcome generational poverty and see a bigger picture.

This program gives youth members a sense of hope, that there is more to life than relying on others to support them. They will be self-reliant with the skills that they learn and consider entrepreneurship. Even if owning a business is not in their future, they will gain knowledge that they can apply to their future. Youth members have a chance to explore career opportunities and learn about entrepreneurship. It gives youth a sense of hope that they can overcome generational poverty and open their minds to different possibilities. With the support of the Community Foundation of Morgan County, we are helping develop the next generation of business and community leaders. We are excited to see how our next group of little entrepreneurs develop their Lemonade Stand business. We will provide updates of this journey and notify our community of an event date for our Lemonade Day Stand. We hope that you will join us on the day of our Lemonade Day stand to support the hard work that our youth have put into their educational journey of owning a business.