Youth encouraged to invest in Lemonade Day

Officials are expected to look the other direction rather than go sour on children learning about business by operating lemonade stands on May 5.

For a second year, Georges Enterprises, Ochsner Health System, Raising Canes Chicken Fingers and an additional 20 corporate sponsors are helping what they expect will be more than 6,000 children from Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes get a taste of entrepreneurship in a program backers contend plants seeds for future business upstarts.

The three primary sponsors said Lemonade Day is intended to create character among participants and spark interest in business enterprises.

Lemonade Day sponsors provide participants with backpacks that contain support materials, including an entrepreneurial workbook, marketing tips and guidelines on opening their lemonade stands.

After covering expenses and paying back investors, Lemonade Day operators are encouraged to place an unspecified portion of their proceedings toward charity. They are also urged to open savings accounts with their profits.

“At Ochsner, we believe in the philosophy ‘Change the Kids, Change the Future,’” Ochsner COO and President Warner Thomas said. “It is a commitment to the wellness of our community that extends past physical fitness to one of preparing the whole child to reach his or her full potential.”

“I always said, ‘I don’t have a job, I have a passion,’” Raising Canes CEO Todd Graves said. “By instilling the basics of business in our children today, we ensure that our children and community have a bright future.”

Responding to reports from other states where children have had lemonade stands shut down by government authorities, zoning and licensing personnel in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes contend there should not be a problem here.

“Normally, if someone has a stand they need a peddler’s license,” Lafourche Parish business licensing administrator Mary Read said. “For retail sales it is a $200 fee.”

Read said that persons selling lemonade in their own front yards do not require a license, but if they get permission to sell products on an existing business parking lot or public property, they would still need to secure a license. “Even peddlers have to have permission to use people’s parking lots,” she said.

If a question arises in Lafourche Parish, a temporary business operator can always write a letter of no objection and submit it for a pardon, according to the license administrator.

“I sit in an office, so I’m not going out enforcing business licenses, especially on a one-day event,” Read said. “I don’t think the cops are going to hassle them, but to be on the safe side, which is always good policy, [you can] write up a letter addressing it to the parish president or email it and say, ‘This is what we would like to do and we want your blessing.’”

In Terrebonne Parish, Planning and Zoning Director Patrick Gordon said he does not know why Lemonade Day would be a legal issue for participants.

“I’m not aware of us ever requiring a permit for a child’s lemonade stand,” Gordon said. “We’ve had neighborhood snowball stands in the past and kids threw cups in neighbor’s yards. We got complaints about that.”

Gordon said in Terrebonne Parish, Lemonade Day participants and their patrons should simply practice common courtesy to avoid any trouble with authorities.

“Lemonade Day is such a powerful and useful program that it will have a lasting impact on our youth for many years to come,” Georges Enterprises CEO and Lemonade Day founder John Georges said. “I am challenging the entire Houma and Thibodaux area to get involved and help us open over 6,000 new businesses on Lemonade Day.”

During the 2011 Lemonade Day, Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes saw approximately 5,000 kids participate. Backers said there is no reason that number should not be beaten.

For information about sponsorships, partnerships and participation contact Lemonade Day Coordinator Michelle Rhodes at (985) 856-8655 or send an email to michellerhodes@tpsd.org.