Our story

The Houston Story

Help us empower today’s youth to be tomorrow’s entrepreneurs!

Lemonade Day is a free, fun, experiential learning program that teaches youth how to start, own and run their own business – a lemonade stand. It began right here in Houston, Texas in 2007. Since then it has grown from 2,700 kids to over 55,000 kids in Houston.

The foremost objective of Lemonade Day is to empower youth to take ownership of their lives and become productive members of society – the business leaders, social advocates, volunteers, and forward-thinking citizens of tomorrow.

Each child that registers receives free materials that teach them the lessons of Lemonade Day, like creating budgets, setting profit-making goals, serving customers, repaying investors, and giving back to the community. Along the way, they acquire skills in goal-setting, problem-solving, and gain the self-esteem critical for future success. They keep all the money they make and are encouraged to spend some, save some and share some.

Sweet Success Stories: A Few of Many

Paige Welch, 10 and runs her business in Katy and Houston. Paige learned all about starting her own business, delivering great customer service, and working to earn funds to buy something she really wanted (a new softball bat!). With her parents’ help, Paige set up her brightly colored lemon-themed “Paige’s Lemonade Stand” near the Williams Tower Water Wall, which is where a photographer captured a favorite image of her parents on their wedding day in 1996!

Paige's Lemonade

Grace Yang, who is 15 years old and a resident of Sugar Land, hosted her lemonade stand at the Water Wall in the Houston Galleria area. With funds that Grace raised on Lemonade Day July 17, she was able to secure an official web site domain name for her non-profit organization Gladiator Tutoring - https://www.gladiatortutoring.com/. Grace is also seeking to raise funds for a professional ZOOM account subscription which will allow her tutors to host continuous video sessions longer than 30 minutes.

Grace - Gladiator Tutoring

Brother and sister in a small business, Denim Barnes, age 12, and Heiress Barnes, age 10, hosted Kendra Scott Highland Village shoppers from their lemonade stand which they named The Lemon Shack. Their mother Eboni Bango served as their mentor and previously mentored their older sister several years ago. These young entrepreneurs designated a portion of their lemonade sales proceeds to address homelessness. Denim and Heiress live in Cypress.

Eboni - The Lemon Shack