Lemonade Day Debuts in Chicagoland

CHICAGO, April 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Just in time for National Financial Literacy Month, Prepared 4 Life and its Chicago sponsors announced they are bringing Lemonade Day to the Windy City for 2012.

A nation-wide event, Lemonade Day is the brainchild of American entrepreneur and Prepared 4 Life founder, Michael Holthouse, and is designed as a free, fun, experiential learning program designed to introduce children of all ages to the fundamentals of business and entrepreneurship.

"The lemonade stand is iconic in the U.S., bringing back memories for most of us of warm summer days and the joy of seeing those dimes and nickels accumulate in your piggy bank. For most children, it's their very first venture into entrepreneurship – but we, as parents and adults, often fail to take the opportunity to make that link for our kids and turn a boredom-buster into a learning opportunity," said Holthouse. "Lemonade Day is about taking that extra step, and that's why we partner with local school districts as well as corporate and community partners in each Lemonade Day city."

Working with Chicago Public Schools, the City of Chicago, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, and funding partner Spark Energy, Prepared 4 Life is bringing Lemonade Day to 5,000 students in Chicago.  Children across Chicagoland can register to take part in Lemonade Day on May 6th, 2012, by visiting http://chicago.lemonadeday.org/ or attending an upcoming community registration event.  "Through this program, we are planting the seeds to develop the next generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders.  These youth will one day start and build businesses that will create jobs and help grow our region's economy," said Jerry Roper, President and CEO of the Chicagoland Chamber.

Participant packages include information booklets that cover the fundamental financial literacy lessons of Lemonade Day, including:

• Defining the term investor
• Identifying and securing an investor for their lemonade business
• Identifying and selecting a location for their lemonade stand
• Developing an advertising plan and creating an advertisement to market their lemonade business

The program also encourages kids to think about the pricing of their lemonade in terms of investor payback, savings, spending, and sharing a portion of profits with a local charity.  Jewel-Osco and the Coleman and Hughes Foundations have offered significant direct financial support to participating students through an innovative microloan program.  Students who need assistance securing start-up funding will be able to secure all the necessary resources through these partners.

The eighth-grade class at Washington Irving Elementary are already well into the Lemonade Day curriculum, and are planning to use part of the revenue from their Lemonade Day stands to fund their annual field trip visit to Washington, D.C.

Spark Energy, an American entrepreneurial success story and partner of Lemonade Day Houston, is extending its support to Lemonade Day Chicago's inaugural year as part of its community investment across Chicagoland.

"Spark Energy is committed to empowering what matters in the communities we serve, and our focus areas for community investments include supporting children in ways that help them realize their full potential, as well as encouraging entrepreneurship across America," said Phil Tonge, president of Spark Energy and a newly elected member of the Prepared 4 Life Board of Directors."The lessons children gain from participating in Lemonade Day are ones that will serve them for a lifetime – strategic planning, budget-management, and marketing skills. And best of all, it's delivered in a way that makes learning fun, and in my experience as a parent, those are the lessons kids tend to absorb much better, whether they even realize they're learning them or not."

About Lemonade Day

Lemonade Day is a free, fun, experiential learning program that teaches youth how to start, own and operate their own business – a lemonade stand. It began in Houston, Texas in 2007. Since then it has grown from 2,700 kids to 120,000 kids in 31 cities across America and Canada in 2011. The yearly momentum for Lemonade Day continues to build and by 2013 the program aspires to be in 100 cities with one million registered youth.

About Prepared 4 Life

Prepared 4 Life EMPOWERS YOUTH to become contributing members of society through its core, asset-based, experiential programs - Lemonade Day and the Lemonade Day Experience. Prepared 4 Life focuses on building assets in kids by integrating life skills, character education and entrepreneurship with engaging experiential, fun activities.  We help youth take ownership of their lives and rise above their obstacles to become contributing and productive members of our society. 

About The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce Founded in 1904, we are a private, non-profit business assistance and economic development organization. The Chicagoland Chamber contains almost 2,000 members, representing over 1.3 million individual employees in the six-county Northeastern Illinois region (Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry & Will).  We are the largest Chamber of Commerce in Illinois and one of the largest in the nation. Our mission is to make Chicagoland the most business-friendly region in America and to enhance our members' success through aggressive advocacy, member benefits, services, and actionable information.

For further information, please contact:
Nick Prestemon
City Director
Lemonade Day Chicago
[email protected] 
P:312.646.8072

SOURCE Lemonade Day Chicago; Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce