Community Corner

Children at Brookdale Park and Lemonade Entrepreneurs

This weekend, kids made the most of the beautiful weather at the town parks.

Local kids found all kinds of ways to enjoy the beautiful May weather this week at the town parks.  

At Brookdale Park on Sunday, young entrepreneurs Isabelle Wastler, Iliana Kirkman-Moriarty and Ella Parekh, all fifth graders from Hillside School, were open for business at their well-equipped lemonade stand.   The students have been participating in the YMCA-Montclair State University's "Lemonade Day," an Essex County initiative that teaches children how to run their own business.

"Six of the girls from the Hillside aftercare program chose to join up," said mom Smita Darsi, who stood nearby watching the girls' progress.  "They made signs, came up with recipes, decided on a prize.  They learned a lot."

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Business was good, said the girls, though they feared it was not quite as good as at the lemonade stand nearby.  "We split up from them, so we'd get more business," declared fifth grader Isabelle Wastler.  "But since they're closer to the playground, I think they're making more money."

Still, Isabelle and her energetic sales team, who wore bright lemon yellow shirts and advertised their product with yellow balloons, weren't giving up.

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"It's exciting," said Ella Parekh. "It's fun to make your own business.  We talked about business, investors, supplies and budgeting."

Parekh said the girls started this morning with a fifty dollar investment in the project.

"Isabelle's mom gave us the money," she said.  "We're trying to aim for something more than fifty so we can make a profit."

After consulting their toy cash register to see how much money they had made, the girls were pleased to see it was more than they had thought.

"Thirty four dollars!" they beamed.

"When we're done, we're giving thirty percent to charity," said Wastler confidently.  "Probably to the people in Alabama after the tornado.  If we don't make enough we'll do volunteer work, maybe collect toys for them."

The business discussion was abruptly halted by the arrival of the ice cream truck.  Waslter and Kirkman-Moriarty ran off to catch it while Parekh and her mom stayed back to mind "the store."

Despite the fun of running a lemonade stand, Parekh said she isn't so sure she wants to be a business tycoon when she grows up.

"I want to be a vet or a dancer when I grow up," she grinned.  "So I still have to decide."


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