Brothers' Lemonade Stand Raises Over $8,000 for Compassion-Sponsored Children Living in Extreme Poverty

The boys' mother, Dr. Jennifer Knowles, wanted to teach her sons – Ben (7), William (4) and Jonathan (2) – about entrepreneurship and giving. They set up their lemonade stand at a city park across from their Denver home and selected a Compassion child in Indonesia to whom they would donate their profits. Quickly into their endeavor a complaint was filed, the Denver police arrived, and they were asked to shut down.

The boys and their parents, Knowles and Dr. Patrick Guffey, then set up a virtual lemonade stand on GoFundMe (compassion.com/lemonade), which has reached their $4,560 goal. On June 1, two Chick-Fil-A locations in Denver also donated 10 percent of their lemonade sales to the family's Compassion fundraising efforts. On June 7, the "Lemonade Boys" presented a check to Compassion for more than $8,000, an amount that continues to increase as word travels about the boys' endeavor.

"It means everything in the world to me to be able to contribute to Compassion," said Knowles, the boys' mother. "I am a mom of little boys, and there are moms of little boys and little girls all across the world. And we have that commonality that we are all just trying to do the best we can for our kids. So if I can create that connection and create that bond with parents across the world, I am just thrilled to be part of it."

Knowles is working to convince the city of Denver to waive permits in the future for kids' lemonade stands when another stand isn't within close proximity. Country Time Lemonade has also joined the movement by creating a team, aptly named Legal-Ade, that will pay fines and permit fees for kids nationwide who want to run their own lemonade stands.

Check out the family's GoFundMe page to further support their fundraising efforts at compassion.com/lemonade.

About Compassion International
Founded in 1952, Compassion International is a Christian child development organization that works to release children from poverty in Jesus' name. Compassion revolutionized the fight against global poverty by working exclusively with the Church to lift children out of spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty. Compassion partners with more than 6,700 churches in 25 countries to deliver its holistic child development program to over 1.8 million babies, children and young adults. Its child sponsorship program has been validated through independent, empirical research.

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SOURCE Compassion International