Gisborne mum Danielle Schiller was inundated with lemons after she posted in her local Facebook group that her son and daughter wanted to run a lemonade stand last weekend.
“Max along with his little sister Moni will have a little lemonade stand out front of our place… they will keep half the proceeds and donate the rest to [Gisborne] food bank,” her post said.
“If anyone would like to donate some more lemons please feel free to dump [them] on our doorstep before Sunday.
“If any lemons [are] left over they’ll be donated too.”
Perhaps appealing to the sepia-coloured romance of their own youthful lemonade stands gone by, or because they knew it was for a great cause, teachers, neighbours and even strangers left their citrus on the family’s porch.
“He made about $60 to give to the food bank,” Ms Schiller said, which was more than half of the $80 he made all together.
“Lots of people turned up, especially my neighbours… people loved it,” Ms Schiller said.
Divided by the cost of a cup of the delicious beverage – $1 or a gold coin donation – that’s a lot of customers.
To get the most out of the donated lemons, the family peeled the fruit before blending them and then straining them to remove the pulp.
Then, they cooked down some sugar and water before adding it all into the mix – like classic lemonade.
“It’s the first time we’ve done it… he loved it… he was the one peeling, I’d cut them and he’d peel,” Ms Schiller said.
Elsie Lange
