Gilroy
– It all started with a lemonade stand.
For the past month, two fourth
–graders at Antonio Del Buono School have raised money for their
school by selling bracelets they designed and mass produced.
Gilroy – It all started with a lemonade stand.
For the past month, two fourth–graders at Antonio Del Buono School have raised money for their school by selling bracelets they designed and mass produced.
Nine–year old Sarah Haas and Samantha Holder, best friends since kindergarten, have a history as young entrepreneurs.
Last summer, they raised $16 running a lemonade stand off Mantelli Drive. This year, they’re hoping for to turn a bigger profit: $1,600, which will go towards the fifth grade field trip fund.
“They wanted to raise money for the school, and that’s where the need was,” Kristi Holder, Samantha’s mother, explained.
Each year, the Parent Club at Del Buono sets aside a certain amount of its budget for field trips. But that usually isn’t enough to cover the fifth grade field trips, Sarah’s mother Karen explained. Fifth grade field trips are more expensive on average than the other grade levels.
“It’s just so expensive to take field trips. And some kids just don’t get the opportunity otherwise,” Haas said.
The two girls decided the best way to raise money would be to sell rubber bracelets modeled after Lance Armstrong’s famous yellow “Livestrong,” wrist bands. Only theirs read “Peacebuilder” across the front.
They wanted the name of the school’s pledge to be included on the bands.
Samantha and Sarah recruited their mothers to help find the most cost effective company to produce the bracelets. All four got on the Internet to research, finally settling on a company based in New York that would allow them to print smaller quantities of the bands.
While the purchase of a Livestrong bracelet goes to Armstrong’s cancer foundation, a portion of the proceeds from Del Buono’s purple bands goes towards next year’s fifth grade class.
Both girls chipped in $200 for the manufacturing of 1,000 purple bracelets, which they have been selling at school for $2 apiece. Purple is their school’s color.
“We had it saved up from birthdays and Christmas,” Samantha said.
To date, they’ve sold more than 300.
The girls are hoping that with a part of their proceeds, they can undertake another community service project.
“It’s pretty awesome isn’t it?” exclaimed Principal Tammy Gabel.
The rubber bracelets are unisex and available for purchase. For information, call Kristi Holder at 568–8458 or Karen Haas at 847–6209.
