Kids sell lemonade to try to save teachers’ jobs

Several youngsters recently walked up to Givens Elementary School Principal Rick Slater and handed him a small plastic bag that held $27 and change. They wanted to help, wanted to save teachers’ jobs at their Summerlin school. Slater was stunned.

Six students had earned the money, plus another $20 from a second fundraiser, by building a lemonade stand in their neighborhood and asking customers to donate what they thought was appropriate for cups of lemonade, the rims carefully ringed with fresh lemons.

Some gave pennies, quarters, dollar bills. One man kicked in $10. A week later the children operated a second lemonade stand at a neighborhood park. They were passing the hat to fill the void left by the state’s budget crisis, which threatens deep cuts in education, including layoffs...

Children do not pass through our lives unaware of the challenges created by grown-ups. They hear the conversations, sense the body language and tension. This group of six has a sense of social responsibility and community activism, although none would call it that. They might have a third fundraiser. Their motivation is simple. “It wouldn’t be fair if the next group of fifth-graders didn’t have supplies to do science experiments,” fifth-grader Grant Goodwin says.

Slater smiles as the youngsters share their thoughts, but his eyes reflect other emotions as he looks to the two plastic bags with $47.73.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/may/28/young-entrepreneurs-try-help-their-school/