Lemonade stands

One of the things I love about my neighborhood is the abundance of lemonade stands that have popped up over the summer. Many evenings, as I have driven home in the fading light, I have pulled over and purchased a fifty cent cup of Crystal Light from adorable tow-headed children. Minus my 2017 model car, the scene could easily have been captured on a Rockwell magazine cover. The smile on the kids’ faces is mirrored by my own. Perhaps the reason I find these lemonade stands so heartwarming is because they simultaneously display levels of innocence and entrepreneurship. I can’t help but think how many titans of industry started their careers in business on the corner of an American intersection.
 
Sometimes, as I leave the lemonade stand, my thoughts turn to the kids who do not have the opportunity to hawk lemonade in front of a leafy front lawn. They might not even have the money to invest in the poster board and markers needed to make the sign. But that is where Federation and so many of our partners come in. I think of the young girl in Sderot, who gets to go to summer camp in the North of Israel, away from kite bombs that currently plague her hometown or of the eleven year old boy who went to Herzl Camp this summer for the first time, in part because of scholarship funds from Federation.

The smile returns to my face.
 
Particularly on a rain-swept day like today, when the sky is gloomy and it is easy to focus on the negative, let’s do the opposite. Let’s thank our lucky stars that there are so many lemonade stands in our community, and thanks to the generosity of our volunteers and donors, maybe next year there will be a few more.

Shabbat Shalom,

Jim