TORONTO -- When life gives you lemons in 2020, you make lemonade—in a slightly different way.
“Me and Maya wanted to make a lemonade stand,” eight-year-old Maxim Mounter told CTV News Toronto. “But my dad changed it into a lemonade stand ‘COVID-safe’ to make it virtual.”
With the help of their parents, running a virtual lemonade stand became a fun summer project for Maxim and his little sister Maya, age five.
“It’s so yummy!” Maya said, referring to her home-made lemonade.
“We were stuck at home, like everyone else, and looking for fun things to do with the kids,” Natalie Mounter, Maxim and Maya’s mother, told CTV News Toronto. “Being entrepreneurs ourselves we thought it would be fun to teach the kids about entrepreneurship.”
Together, they launched ‘M&M Lemonade’ – a business for the kids to run, and a virtual experience for those looking to enjoy their own refreshing glass of lemonade.
“They took part and built everything themselves,” the children’s father Oreon Mounter said. “And then seeing it come to life has been awesome.”
The virtual experience for the customer includes a downloadable recipe book so that clients can safely make their own lemonade at home.
“We have five kinds [of lemonade],” Maxim explained. “They are Classic, Strawberry Slush, Lime, Peach and Watermelon.”
“My favourite part was testing all the recipes,” Maya added.
The recipe book is free to download on the M&M Lemonade website, with an option for customers to donate.
“We’re saving half for our university and were also giving half to the Canada Food Banks,” explains Maxim. “So we could help people in need.”
“They’ve raised over $3,000 for Canadian Food Banks,” Oreon said. “And that was 100 per cent their idea. So we’re very proud of them, and they’re doing great.”
The Mounter family says the generous response from friends, family and neighbours has been overwhelming.
“We’ve had donations from far-away places like California, Texas, even as far away as Uganda,” Natalie said. “We’ve been really, really just touched by the support we’ve received.”
Knowing other kids or families might be interested in pursuing a similar venture, M&M Lemonade includes a guide in their virtual experience about kids and entrepreneurship.
“Ideally for the kids, we would love that they continue on some kind of an entrepreneurial venture that also gives a portion of their proceeds to charity kind of every summer,” Oreon said. “Maybe it’s not this exact project, but it would be something new next summer where they get to challenge themselves and find new skills and also make sure that they’re giving back in some way.”
For Maxim and Maya, summer 2020 has been one of fun and learning as a result of their virtual lemonade stand. The say they’re grateful to everyone who has helped them with M&M Lemonade.
“Thank you for your support!” Maya said.
