LemonAID Day this Sunday — help send a kid to camp

UPDATE: The stand planned for Charlotte and John Streets, as listed in the printed edition of The Local, has been moved to Coach Drive and The Promenade. It is the Promenade Lemonade team.

This Sunday, June 12, Mountainview LemonAID Day will take place across Niagara, with a goal of creating summer smiles by sending children to camp this summer.

What started a few years ago as a single lemonade stand in Niagara-on-the-Lake, with Jayden and Kaitlyn Polgrabia setting up a lemonade stand in their front yard to raise enough money to send a child to summer camp, has been taken on by Mountainview Building Group and the FACS Niagara Foundation to create a region-wide event incorporating more stands, and an even bigger goal.

The goal is to have 100 LemonAID teams set up stands across Niagara, in every municipality. All proceeds from donations will go directly towards FACS Niagara to send kids to summer camp.

In Niagara-on-the-Lake, says Brittany Ditizio of FACS, there are eight official LemonAID stands, one on Garrison Village Drive, and others near the intersections of Johnson and Gate Streets, Line 2 and Niagara Stone Road, Four Mile Creek and York Road, Queen and Victoria Streets, Penner Street and Niagara Stone Road, and on York Road near Four Mile Creek Road. The stand planned for Charlotte and John Streets has been moved to Coach Drive and The Promenade

“Summer camps give great, lifelong memories while helping kids build social skills and self-confidence,” says Caroline Polgrabia, president of the FACS Niagara Foundation Board. “We have a big goal this year, but we know we can reach it. We’re excited to create many big smiles this summer.”

Her children, Jayden and Kaitlyn, will have their LemonAID stand again this year. 

Registration for Mountainview LemonAID Day is still open, says Ditizio. 

“We’ve just been advising people that we’ll accept registrations until the stands run out, and as of now we have 12 stands left,” she said Tuesday.

Teams will be provided with the essential supplies needed to run the stand, including lemonade concentrate, pitchers, cups, directional signs, instructions, T-shirts and hats, and a re-usable stand to be assembled on a four to six foot table. All teams are encouraged to make their stands unique, from choosing a team name to decorating the stand itself.

Kids are encouraged to team up with their friends and family and register for their own LemonAID stand or join an existing team.

Thanks to generous community sponsors, 100% of donations raised at every stand will be used to send vulnerable kids to camp this summer.

To learn more about Mountainview LemonAID Day, and to register or join a team, visit the FACS Niagara Foundation website – facsniagarafoundation.org/mountainviewlemonaidday/