"Make a Stand", Lemon-Aid For A Cause

Make A Stand Lemon-Aid

After seeing a photo of two Nepalese boys about her age holding hands, but weighed down by large boulders strapped across their heads one little girl was affronted to learn that, no, slavery had not ended with Abraham Lincoln. In her own words, “I wanted to do something, because compassion is not compassion without action”. She did so by making a stand. Literally. Vivienne Harr, now nine years old, made a lemon stand in Fairfax every day for a year in order to benefit a Half Moon Bay based NGO called Not For Sale in hopes of ending child slavery worldwide.  With the support of her family and community she was successful in raising over $100,000 in profits for the organization.  Talk about taking what you know and using it to make a difference. This little girl is truly an inspiration. Eventually her goal took her stand nation wide, but even after she reached her goal of contributing 100K to end human trafficking she refused to quit. Human/Child slavery was not done and neither was Vivienne. Now, the tally is up to $200,000, and the 9-year-old Marin County resident is in talks with major grocery stores to bottle the product. With help from her dad, Eric Harr, Vivienne founded Make a Stand Lemon-Aid. The lemonade has a bottler, and 70 stores have agreed to carry the product. Vivienne's father partnered with Fair Trade USA in selecting suppliers for the ingredients. Half of all profits from Make a Stand Lemon-Aid will be donated to antislavery organizations, including UNICEF, Free the Slaves and The International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labor.

Make a Stand is a beautiful example of what one person can do. After seeing a photo of two enslaved boys, 8 year-old Vivienne Harr "made a stand" at her lemonade stand for 365 days straight. The world stood with her. While Vivienne is the inspiration, you are the action. The "pay what is in your heart" motto of her company truly resonates this sentiment. 

You can find Vivienne’s little bottles of hope in local grocery stores such as Andronico’s Market, Woodland’s Market, Mollie Stones, Fairfax Market, Mill Valley Market, or online at MakeAStand.com. Check out Vivienne’s facebook page for more updates here. For a photo journal of Vivienne's experience click here, a great example of our last blog's slow parenting ideals!

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