The Random Acts of Kindness Club held its third annual free lemonade stand during lunches on April 17, 2019.

“When life gives you lemons,” the saying goes, “make lemonade.” The RAK Club took this saying to heart as they let students enjoy squeezing lemons themselves into the awaiting cups of lemonade. The club members told the students to imagine the lemon as their stress and problems as they were crushed and thrown away.

With final exams, Keystones, SAT’s, and other big tests coming up, RAK felt the teenagers needed to de-stress. What better week to set up an event like this than National Teen Health Week?

As the club members served more and more students, the lemon metaphor seemed to do its job as it encouraged positive attitudes and smiles all around. Many of the students reported that they enjoyed this event.

Freshman and member of RAK, Mofi Oladipo, said, “Getting rid of problems is something people really, really, really wanna do.” The lemonade stand hoped to ease some people’s burdens, even if only a little bit.

Of course, an event like this requires planning. According to Miriam Collins, the club advisor for RAK, the lemonade stand takes about two weeks of planning and five whole periods to set up, serve, and then take down.

The stand also required around 10 people each lunch period to make it all happen. They needed people to pass out drinks, pour in ice, and get the drinks ready. Additionally they needed people to help set it up and then take it all back down again.

RAK also gathered some volunteers to help them out. This means the smiling faces at the stand were both students that were part of the club and students who were not.

Seniors Patrick Gavazzi and Nate Strohm helped head the event. They were also the individuals who first came up with the lemonade stand idea and founded the RAK Club three years ago.

The lemonade stand helped dozens of students loosen up that day. As Collins said, “There are a lot of smiles here.”