As the old saying goes, when life gives you a lemon, you could make lemonade — or, toss it a kilometre, like the local students at the Niagara-on-the-Lake outlet mall did on Thursday.
The annual Lemon Twist brought together grades 4 and 5 students on Thursday from the Niagara Catholic District School Board and the District School Board of Niagara at the Outlet Collection at Niagara, to form a giant circle and relay a lemon hand to hand, aiming to cover one kilometre.
Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa attended and made the third toss of the day, sending a lemon on a 14-minute and 32-second journey.
There were extra lemons on standby — and good thing, because the kids were tossing the lemon with such gusto, they nearly made lemonade out of it then and there.
The stunt served a dual purpose: Generating buzz for the fourth annual lemonade stand fundraiser for the Family and Children’s Services Niagara Foundation on June 7 and setting an unofficial world record — ahead of a planned world record attempt.
“It’s such an important fundraiser for us,” said Brett Sweeney, FACS Niagara’s communications director. “Being able to send kids to summer camp is a luxury that some families just can’t manage.”
Sweeney said many families are facing difficult circumstances, made even harder by today’s rising cost of living, which means discretionary spending, like summer camp, just isn’t possible for everyone.
“We’re providing equitable opportunities for all kids to enjoy summer camp and have those experiences that make childhood truly magical,” he said.
The relay was also a test run for a potential Guinness World Record attempt next May.
Since no official record exists for a lemon being tossed a kilometre by hand, the foundation hopes to set one.
“This is an opportunity for us to establish and set a world record,” said Sweeney. “We’re in some discussions with Guinness.”
“This year, this is our trial run.”
The lemonade stands, or Mountainview LemonAID Day, is a “kids helping kids” fundraiser where children across Niagara set up lemonade stands to raise money to send kids supported by Family and Children’s Services Niagara to summer camp.
There were 100 stands available, with more than 60 already claimed.
“We encourage people to register as soon as possible,” said Sweeney.
Because of sponsor Mountainview Homes, students can register for free and get a free kit with everything they need to serve up smiles.
Each kit will include cups, pitchers, shirts, hats and lemonade concentrate — courtesy of Tim Hortons, which also supplies the stand itself.
Last year, the fundraiser helped raise enough money to send more than 400 kids supported by Family and Children’s Services to summer camp, covering more than 600 weeks of camp.
Registration is open at facsniagarafoundation.org/mountainviewlemonaidday/.
