Making Lemonade
“I’m a foster kid,” a sweet-faced girl in a yellow shirt told her customer as she handed them an ice-cold lemonade.
“I was a foster kid, but then my mom adopted me,” a teen explained as she accepted money from her customer.
Not every lemonade stand benefiting the Idaho Foster & Adoptive Parent Association (IDFAPA) held last July had a foster or adopted child running it, but all 56 had the same goal; to bring awareness and raise funds for foster kids across the state.
After a successful inaugural year, IDFAPA will be holding its 2nd Annual Lemonade Stand for Foster Kids in July 2023. Foster kids experience too many lemons in their lives. Join us as we try to make life a little sweeter for them!
Where We Started
The Idaho Foster & Adoptive Parent Association was created in 2011 to advocate, educate, and care for foster kids throughout Idaho. You can find our home office in Blackfoot, Idaho. We started our Lemonade Stand for Foster Kids campaign in 2022 after seeing the success of a similar organization in North Carolina.
At IDFAPA, we see firsthand the struggles foster kids go through, and our mission is to provide support and care to foster families and foster kids. We want to educate the community on the struggles and needs of foster kids, so we planned these lemonade stands as teaching and learning opportunities for those hosting the lemonade stands and attending the lemonade stands.
As foster care supporters hand a customer a glass of lemonade, they can have a conversation about what foster care is, why kids sometimes can’t live with their own families for a while, and how we can support foster kids as they go through some difficult transitions in their lives. Kids and adults can learn how to stop judging a situation and be a friend to someone who needs one.
We hope you will join us in advocating for foster kids, raising funds for the Idaho Foster & Adoptive Parent Association, and turning lemons into lemonade! Visit idfapa.org for more details. If you would like to donate directly to IDFAPA rather than hold a lemonade stand, click here. We love donations!
Signing Up is Easy
We want to make it easy for you to host a lemonade stand benefiting the Idaho Foster & Adoptive Parent Association. That is why we have gathered all the necessary information in one spot. Follow these four steps to get started:
- Decide which day to host your lemonade stand.
- Please fill out this registration form, letting us know when and where you will hold your stand. We will post it on our social media and send customers your way!
- Download and print all our PDFs to help make your stand great!
- Order your Lemonade Stand for Foster Kids t-shirts here.
We will be running the competition portion of the campaign throughout July, but feel free to hold your lemonade stand whenever it is most convenient for you! Last year our hosts saw a lot of success holding lemonade stands around community events, holidays, sporting events, or in front of local businesses.
Get Your Swag
This year, we teamed up with Bonfire to run a t-shirt fundraiser, so your t-shirts will be shipped directly to you. Your yellow shirts will draw attention and raise awareness for the cause you are supporting! Order your Lemonade Stand for Foster Kids t-shirts here.
You can also find many fun extras such as banners, tablecloths, balloons, stickers, and lemon-flavored treats for your lemonade stand at your local dollar store, big-box store, Oriental Trading, or Amazon.
Finishing Touches
The great thing about lemonade stands is they can vary from simple, selling only lemonade to more elaborate stands where lemonade is somewhere on the menu! Last year we saw stands selling cookies, cinnamon rolls, snow cones, and even tacos. It doesn’t matter how you do it; sell whatever you want! What IS important is spreading the word about and supporting Idaho’s foster kids.
Awards and Prizes
This year we will offer special prizes for our top three fundraisers! Check our website often to see who leads the competition and how much you need to raise to be at the top! We will also have prizes for selling 50+ cups of lemonade, a winner for the most creative stand, and a winner for the stand selling the most lemonade! Remember to post your lemonade stand event on social media with lots of pictures and tag it with #fosteridahome and #standforfosterkids.
We can’t wait to see lemonade stands popping up all over Idaho again this summer! What are you waiting for?! Join us by signing up today! Let’s make life a little sweeter for Idaho’s foster kids and turn lemons into lemonade together!
Email us at lemonade.idfapa@gmail.com with any questions!
