Eight-Year-Old Starts Lemonade Stand for Freedom; Raises $50K in Two Months

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...

Photo: Toan Lam

Sometimes the best life lessons can be learned from kids.   Kids like Miss Vivienne Harr of Fairfax, Calif. 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 this picture of two Nepalese children carrying huge rocks on their backs.

Photo: Lisa Kristine

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 dollars 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 the BBC, Yahoo and is slated to appear on Jeff Probst's talk show, which debuts on Sept. 10.

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 non-profit organization that re-abolishes slavery around the world. Won't you join her and make a stand?

L to R: Toan Lam, Alexandra "Mom" Harr, Vivienne Harr, Jen Schumacher. Photo: Toan Lam

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!
#MAKEASTAND LEMONADE
2. Make A Stand: Learn More About Slavery
NOT FOR SALE
3. Make A Stand: Use YOUR Power to Stand for What YOU Believe In!
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Follow Toan Lam on Twitter: www.twitter.com/GoInspireGo

Comments

[Sandy Wright]

02:57 PM on 09/17/2012

Such and amazing and spirited little girl, I am proud to be a supporter and so happy for the impact she is making - it is time we start talking LOUD about this issue!

[ericharr]

01:27 AM on 09/18/2012

Wow. Thank you, Sandy. Thank you, thank you! I read your comment to Vivienne before her head hit the pillow tonight. I love to "make deposits in her memory banks" in this way - with the heartfelt and sweet messages from people like you. Your words mean so much to her. Thank you again! With love, ~Eric

[iconico62]

12:20 AM on 09/16/2012

God, thru Vivie and her supportive family, is showing how a child's heart can manifest the purity of commitment, compassion and love. This girl has more of them than most adults I know. God bless her ten thousandfold.

[Toan Lam]

06:25 PM on 09/17/2012

Thank you for the lovely comment. Yes, authenticity, joy and inspiring are just some words that describe Vivie and her fabulous family!

[burnaka]

08:48 PM on 09/12/2012

Am sure near all the money was mail in donations. Good for her and her family.

[Toan Lam]

12:45 PM on 09/12/2012

Thanks for the comments! Viv is the real deal -- a true inspiration. Aside from collecting cash and checks from the Stand, she's selling virtual lemonade, has angel investors and is using Indiegogo and Fundly, the world's largest crowdfunding platform to collect the funds.

[ericharr]

12:00 PM on 09/13/2012

Thank you, Toan, for bringing your remarkable talents to amplify this message and inspire the world. You know, we've read thousands of Tweets/FB posts/web comments it's beautiful to see how this has impacted people: that if gives us hope in a better world, but in ourselves to change the world, with a little "heart work." I want to thank you, my friend, for who you are, what you do, how you do it - and most importantly: why you do it. Much love to everyone here! ~The Harr Family

[NAOMA]

03:11 PM on 09/11/2012

I find this totally unbelievable -- in two months. What was she charging? Or did she have a "corporate sponsor." Call me a doubter.

[ericharr]

05:36 PM on 09/12/2012

Hi Naoma - Vivienne's papa here. We used the very powerful platforms of Twitter, Facebook and Fundly (http://fundly.com/makeastand) and the people really powered it for her. $10 here, $20 there and here we are! People were also very inspired at her lemonade stand. Vivienne would ask people to "just pay what is in your heart." Some people paid upwards of $500 a glass! Hope that clarifies! Thank you! Eric Harr

[NAOMA]

02:59 AM on 09/13/2012

Dear Mr. Harr: Thank you for the clarification! This is remarkable. I can understand people giving all they could and I congratulate your daughter for her huge success. In my community we are not even allowed to have a "garage sale." So happy for the wonderful outpouring of loving people. You have a superb child and she will be a success in all she decides to do in her life.

[RichStine]

08:18 PM on 09/12/2012

This little kid took her mission to the web, the media found out about it, and in a rare but noble turn, actually reported about her lemonade stand mission. Doubt all you want. I don't care if Romney decided to cough up a chunk of change...the mission is well intended, by a kid who has yet to be embittered by the harsh reality that people often noisily suck, while those who are thoughtful and do random acts of unpretentious kindness get overlooked.
This quite rocks.

[NAOMA]

06:51 AM on 09/13/2012

Yes, her Father wrote to me and told me all about it. Very interesting and a wonderful endeavor. We hear so few stories of "good news" that I was surprised I had not heard of this in my own news.

[StarDagger]

05:10 PM on 09/10/2012

Kudos to this girl.

Now lets think about dismantling the Capitalist consciousness that creates the conditions for slavery to thrive.

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