What began as a small lemonade stand outside their family home quickly turned into a community-wide ‘Save the Whales’ fundraiser for five kids in the St Jacobs area.
Abbey Adams, 11, who attends St. Jacobs Public School has spent some of her summer evenings watching ‘Whale Wars’, a television series on the Discovery Channel that documents and exposes the illegal slaughter of whales. Wanting to do something to help out the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) and the work they do to protect the whales and other ocean wildlife, Abbey, alongside her brother Alex Adams, 9, and their neighbours Jesse Broughm, 9, Micah Broughm, 11, and Tyler Martin, 11, set a goal to raise $100 for the SSCS.
Last Sunday they set up the lemonade stand outside their house and the kids spent five hours directing traffic to their house and filling and refilling their jug of lemonade for passersby.
Surprised and inspired by the kids’ enthusiasm for the fundraising idea, Abbey and Alex’s mother Zora helped out by typing up some ‘Save the Whales’ signs for the kids to carry.
“You know what? They weren’t inside playing videogames, they were out doing something constructive, and so I said ‘OK.’”
After the long day in the sun, the kids realized that not much traffic had slowed around their house, and instead began canvassing door-to-door. They asked their neighbours to donate a quarter in exchange for a glass of lemonade or juice. One neighbour helped the young environmentalists reach their goal of over $100 raised by donating over $55 in coins after being asked if he had some change to spare. The man’s donation helped the kids exceed their goal.
“Near the end of the day, before we went door-to-door, we said a prayer that we would reach our goal; getting the $55 donation was like God heard us,” Jesse said.
By the end of the day, the kids had raised $125.32, which is being sent to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. They are hoping that the money they raised will go towards buying supplies to fix the ship after a small accident that they saw on the show’s season finale. Anyone interested in donating to the society can get more information at www.seashepherd.org.
Zora hopes that the success the kids had will encourage them to do more projects like this in the future.
“It’s easy in the summer to get stuck inside and play videogames, but we loved that they learned they could make a difference this way.”
