When life gives you lemons, make lemonade – at least that is what the RISE Foundation did.
RISE Foundation hosted its third annual “Lemonade for Foster-Aid” lemonade stand event throughout the Santa Clarita Valley, Agua Dulce, Acton and one in Granada Hills on Saturday.
RISE Foundation’s mission is to help children in foster care, foster parents and workers, and young adults who are aging out or are in foster care by providing resources to ease transitions and living conditions.
The event saw 14 lemonade stands all working toward the same goal.
Restoration Church’s stand, “Leapin’ Lemons” on Wiley Canyon Road, offered both pink and original lemonade with an assortment of lemon-flavored sweet and salty foods and had a frog theme throughout the front of the church.
“I think this is a great way to partner with them because it raises money for their practical needs. Like the toiletries and clothes and beds and things that they provide … Listen, we are a community that has been blessed with a lot,” said Jen Lord, a pastor at Restoration Church.
Lord added that it is people’s responsibility to come together and help those children who do not have as much and strive to do something that meets their needs.
Julie Temez, mission pastor at the church, said the church and RISE especially focus on children in foster care.
“Just to be able to give back to them and to, like she (Lord) says, show them that they’re seen and that they matter. And I think that’s really important is because I think at the end of the day, they just want to know that they see, they’re seen,” Temez said.
All the way across town, Girl Scouts Troop 7532 had their Brownies and Daisies hold signs to get people to stop and try their various flavored lemonades.
They offered residents the choice of blood orange, strawberry, raspberry or original in their lemonades with a snack selection that included Girl Scout cookies, lemon loaf bread and mini baked lemon cakes.
“It shows the kids that it’s always better, it’s always good to help people that need more. And also, kids who might not have the opportunity to be part of groups like this and make them more appreciative, I feel, hopefully, and get them excited to keep helping the community, just instill that community service in them,” said Jenny Hernandez, troop leader of Troop 7532.
While the girls of Girl Scout Troop 7532 were selling their lemonade, Fire Station 108 made an appearance to grab their fix, with the girls screaming out of excitement.
Dan Hathaway, one of the captains at Fire Station 108, recalled a memory of having firefighters come to his school and that being exciting for him to see, so it was nice for him to provide that for the troop.
“Well, for me, when I was a little boy, I happened to remember firefighters visiting my school and actually remember them at the park where I played baseball,” Hathaway said. “And I thought it was particularly cool to see these guys because I actually was influenced by them and I already knew I wanted to be a firefighter, but that just solidified that desire in my heart to see these firefighters as part of the community of the park.”
Hathaway added that it was also the perfect day to have some lemonade after working the past three days.
The Fernandez family’s “Pink Lemonade” lemonade stand had a crowd gathering and enjoying the tart drink with various flavors like cherry, strawberry and raspberry, too.
Leticia Fernandez said the family was glad “to give to an organization that we not only know the co-founders but just agree with what they do and their mission to help kids.”
Fernandez added that she works as a physical therapist for children with special needs and seeing children go without breaks her heart.
“It breaks your heart time and time again to see kids in foster (care). And a lot of times the reasons aren’t super complicated. And to see that if you’re meeting their basic needs, families can either keep their children or you can help is just so awesome to see,” Leticia said.
Josie, 6, and Joel, 8, helped their mother, Leticia and their father, Eddy, with pouring lemonade at the stand.
They both said they love traditional pink lemonade.
Kari Phillipps and Meghan Simpson, co-founders of RISE, enjoyed the time with the Fernandez family, saying they had been driving around all day to each of the lemonade stands to see how things were going.
When asked what they have learned through this process of having their foundation, they said that helping families that are affected by foster care is so needed and so important to bridge that gap of struggle.
“We realized that we had to get there sooner and that dealing with families whose children are at risk of foster care and helping them before the kids are in foster care was so needed and something that wasn’t being done as much,” Phillipps said.
“Foster care is such a spectrum. From pre-foster care is what we call it as families that are in danger of being separated,” Simpson said. “We might just be financial needs, things like that, and be done to keep them together, be able to prevent the trauma from happening to the family, to cheering on and working with the parents that have gone through so much to try to get their kids back.”
RISE Foundation has raised over $18,668 at the time of this publication, according to Phillipps.
