By Steven Gordon, Lemonade Day National President

At the age of 7, Joy Oquendo has already proven that she is more financially savvy and socially responsible than many adults—Joy sold her contest-winning lemonade recipe from her “Cup of Joy” stand on Lemonade Day in the Houston metro area on May 6 and exceeded her $1,000 earnings goal. What I find especially inspirational is that Joy is sharing all $1,200 of her earnings to help restore a senior residence in Puerto Rico that was damaged by Hurricane Maria last year. 

Sandy Oquendo explained that helping victims of Hurricane Maria was all Joy’s idea. Joy told Sandy that she wanted all her Lemonade Day proceeds to be set aside for Hurricane Maria relief efforts. To support Joy in this process, Sandy connected with several organizations involved in Hurricane Maria humanitarian aid, which led her to Institución Ángel de Luz Inc. This facility is one of the lesser-known storm-damaged homes for elderly residents and is located about an hour’s drive southeast of San Juan.  Twelve seniors have been living here for the past nine months with a leaking roof and unsafe mold accumulation. They have no running water or electricity.

Sandy; Joy’s dad, Jorge Oquendo; and Joy’s brothers, Michael (13) and Yandel (16), will accompany Joy from Houston Hobby Airport to San Juan, Puerto Rico on June 20. On Friday, June 22 and Saturday, June 23, Joy and her family will be pressure-washing and painting the home (see photos here of damage) as well as assisting with landscaping projects with the help of other local volunteers. Joy will be interviewed by Telemundo TV in Houston on Wednesday morning, and she will be a guest on a radio station in Puerto Rico on Friday. The family will return to Houston on Sunday, June 24.

I am honored to know Joy and her family, who live in Spring, just north of Houston. I know for sure that Joy will be one of the most compassionate and inspirational members of her second-grade class at Roth Elementary next school year.  She has continued to grow in wisdom, poise and experience through her Lemonade Day activities, which she started with her parents’ guidance several years ago.

We can certainly use more Joy in the world. As you can see as well as I can, Joy’s cup overflows in good and special ways.

I always welcome your comments, suggestions and questions. Please email me at steven@lemonadeday.org any time.  Thank you for your support of Lemonade Day and our mission to engage millions of young kids in business and character-building lessons that will serve them for life.

ABOUT LEMONADE DAY

Founded in Houston in 2007 by Michael and Lisa Holthouse, Lemonade Day is a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching every child across North America the business and financial skills that are the key ingredients of entrepreneurship.  By learning these skills early in life, children will be better prepared to be successful, financially healthy adults.  Through our fun, hands-on program, kids K-5 are empowered to start their very own business—a lemonade stand—and experience the feeling of earning real money, using 100% of their profit to spend, save and share based on their own goals.

Lemonade Day is hosted in 71 territories in North America and is growing. Over the past 10 years, we have served more than 1 million kids in our youth entrepreneur programs. Within the next five years, Lemonade Day leaders estimate that 250,000 mentors and millions more kids will be hosting lemonade stands in North America and on other continents throughout the world.