9-year-old selling lemonade to help Detroit out of financial crisis

**sg9018** · August-01-12, 01:01 PM

9 year old Joshua Smith made national headlines by opening a lemonade stand because, he was disturbed by Detroit's finances. This story ran in the Free Press on tuesday, here is it is on the USA Today website,

Parents Flynn and Rhonda Smith, both 43, said they decided not to tell Joshua that a lemonade sale, no matter how successful, would hardly put a dent in the city's deficit, which is in excess of $100 million. And they decided to invest close to $100 for the food and drinks."I'm really proud of him. He wasn't asking how can he make money to buy himself something. My wife and I were talking about this earlier: Neither of us ever thought to do anything like this when we were kids," said Flynn Smith, a high school math teacher and associate pastor at Evangel Ministries here.Joshua knew things weren't quite right in the city where he and his younger brothers, ages 4 and 2, were born. The grass at the parks near his home is frequently almost as tall as he is [[he stands nearly 5 feet), and the water fountains are broken.He was on his way to piano lessons one day when he heard a radio report about the sorry state of Detroit's finances."I heard the city was in crisis because the city is broke, and I was really upset," Joshua said.Rhonda Smith posted news of the sale on Facebook, and along with Joshua made fliers distributed in the neighborhood and at a recent jazz festival.The flier says: "May you please help the City of Detroit. Please buy this popcorn and drinks. It's not so expensive. I didn't make it expensive so you would have to spend all your money. The money will help clean up trash on the ground and cut the grass in the parks."Joshua's goodies range in price from $1 for a bottle of water to $2 for a "big" bag of popcorn.Joshua said that he also wants to send a letter to Mayor Dave Bing with the money that he raises. On Monday afternoon, he dictated what the letter would say:"Dear Mr. Mayor, I'm sending this money because I hear the city is broke and I'm hoping to raise $1,000 or more so we can have lots of money, so we can cut grass and fix the water fountains in the park."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...4/1?csp=34news
Today Mayor Bing called Smith to thank him,

Instead of donating his lemonade money to the city, the mayor suggested Joshua put the money toward his college fund so he can go to college and use his entrepreneurial skills to help Detroit.

Video here,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=XwQR7hEEkQI
Article here,
http://www.freep.com/article/2012080...ld-s-attention
The Stand is located on 4200 Block of Leslie on the west side

**Vic01** · August-01-12, 01:42 PM

While I applaud the spirit of the boy, donating the cash to the city is not a good bet. I wouldn't even buy a lemonade knowing the proceeds were going into the city's general fund...
It would make more sense, and have better odds of cleaning up the kid's local park/playground, if the family tracked down one of the "mower gangs" [[the one cutting the former Tiger Stadium lot?) and offered gas money to come on over... or set up their own local "mower gang" if need be... all done while writing a letter stating that you are doing it this way to make sure it actually gets done.
Now, for this, I've got a $20 bill for the first 5 gallons of gas... I might even bring my mower down

**Detroitnerd** · August-01-12, 02:12 PM

Cool idea. Too bad the cops shut them down.

Police Shut Down Lemonade...

http://endoftheamericandream.com/arc...ent-permission

**Danny** · August-01-12, 02:20 PM

Very good for Joshua, doing his part to save Detroit from its financial woes. The STREET PROPHETS salutes you.

**Jimaz** · August-01-12, 04:40 PM

Originally Posted by Detroitnerd

Cool idea. Too bad the cops shut them down.

Police Shut Down Lemonade...

http://endoftheamericandream.com/arc...ent-permission

Wait. Is this specific case mentioned in that article?

**Detroitnerd** · August-01-12, 04:49 PM

Originally Posted by Jimaz

Wait. Is this specific case mentioned in that article?

Oh, sorry, I see where you could infer that. No. I probably should have said, "Too bad the police increasingly shut down kids' lemonade stands."

**trotwood** · August-01-12, 05:49 PM

I am very proud of this young man. Joshua Smith is an inspiration!Bravo Joshua!!

**Jimaz** · August-01-12, 05:56 PM

Originally Posted by Detroitnerd

Oh, sorry, I see where you could infer that. No. I probably should have said, "Too bad the police increasingly shut down kids' lemonade stands."

Ah! Much better.

Those kids should switch to selling donuts. "Shut down THIS, copper!" LOL!

**Zacha341** · August-04-12, 06:22 AM

What a wonderful story. See video. This little boy is on the right tract for learning how to put a vision into action and motivate real change! I know his parents are proud!

Boy gets scholarship after lemonade stand raises cash for mowing

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/19...ash-for-mowing