Like many eight
year-olds, Vivienne Harr decided to open a lemonade stand and make some
money. For an afternoon? No, for 173
afternoons. To make some fun money? No, to end child slave labor. Not your typical eight year-old.
Vivienne had
happened to see a photograph of two boys about her age in Nepal. They each had a huge slab of granite roped to
their back, and were holding hands as they stood at the top of a hill. They were slave laborers.
She figured out,
with a little help, that it would take $100,000 to buy freedom for 500
children. So, she set that as her
goal. On Monday June 25, 2012 Vivienne
placed her little stand in the middle of the public park in her hometown of
Fairfax, California, and got to work. At
first she charged money for her organic, homemade lemonade. But soon she realized that if she let people
give from their hearts, she’d do better.
So she simply asked for good-will donations. The average profit per cup jumped from $2 to
$18. One person even donated $1,000 for
a cup.
And day in and
day out, rain or shine, Vivienne was at her stand raising money. On Day #52 The
New York Times wrote an article about her efforts, and that same day
Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Nicholas Kristof retweeted the story to his
million plus followers. And “Make A
Stand” became a movement. Media outlets
from around the world began to share the message.
Finally, at the
request of Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York City, Vivienne set up her
stand in Times Square on Day #173, and surpassed her goal of $100,000. Her parents wrote a check to Not For Sale, a non-profit organization
dedicated to ending child slave labor, in the amount of $101,320. But this amazing young lady wasn’t through. She continued to sell until she reached 365
days straight. And on the 366th
day, her stand moved from the park to the web, and “Make A Stand” Lemonade
began selling in bottles. Today you can
also find Vivienne’s lemonade in over 150 stores.
There remain an
estimated 30 million human being enslaved worldwide, half of them children. And Vivienne won’t be satisfied until every one
of them is freed. To that end, Make A
Stand contributes a percentage of its proceeds to charities committed to ending
child slave labor.
"You don't
have to be big or powerful to change the world,” says Vivienne, “you can be
just like me."
What a world that would be.
Vivienne Harr is a hero you should
know. And I’m Dr. Ross Porter.
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