By Toan Lam
There’s a sweet twist to this lemonade stand story that will quench your thirst to take a stand to help elevate your community and humanity. Take a sip and read on…
Sometimes the best life lessons can be learned from kids. Kids like Miss Vivienne Harr of Fairfax, California. Vivie, as she likes to be called, is a personality-full-cup-runneth-over eight-year-old philanthropy phenom who set up a lemonade stand—or what I like to call Lemonade Stand 2.0.
Vivie was inspired to take a stand against slavery after seeing an installation on slavery by Lisa Kristine, a photographer who captured these authentic, haunting, gut-wrenching snapshots of modern-day slaves around the world. Vivie was particularly moved by a picture of two Nepalese children carrying huge rocks on their backs.
The family cried in disbelief. They went home and researched slavery and human trafficking.
Vivie was inspired to take action.
Watch how she quickly garnered tens of thousands of supporters from the local and worldwide community and raised more than $50,000 in just under two months.
Vivie’s project went viral after Nicholas Kristof, a New York Times op-ed columnist, tweeted about @vivienneharr and #MAKEASTAND LEMONADE. She’s also been featured on many media outlets, including BBC and Yahoo, and is slated to appear on Jeff Probst’s talk show.
All the business acumen that Vivie had was selling lemonade. She took a stand and did something—selling lemonade was in her power to be a voice for the voiceless.
Rain or shine, Vivie plans to set up shop and sell her organic, free trade, made-with-love lemonade every day until they raise $150,000 to free 500 slaves.
All of the proceeds will go to Not For Sale, a nonprofit organization that re-abolishes slavery around the world. Won’t you join her and make a stand?
Vivie isn’t stopping at her $150,000 goal. She’s working with investors to bottle her #MAKEASTAND LEMONADE. Stay tuned!
Meanwhile, I’m going to focus on seeing things through a child’s lens more often. Sweet. Cheers!
Take Action:
1. Make A Stand: Contribute!
2. Make A Stand: Learn More About Slavery
3. Make A Stand: Use YOUR Power to Stand for What YOU Believe In!
Toan Lam is the creator of Go Inspire Go. He is living proof that inspiration and hope trumps the unfortunate situations many of us face today. Follow Go Inspire Go on Twitter and Facebook
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