LemondAid Day raising thousands to send Elgin County kids to camp
An Elgin County-wide initiative could help send nearly 100 kids to summer camp.
An Elgin County-wide initiative could help send nearly 100 kids to summer camp.
LemondAid Day has 43 stands across the region selling lemonade by donation Saturday with 100 per cent of the proceeds going to the Elgin Children's Foundation (EFC).
'Kids, families and businesses are setting up lemonade stands all across town,' says Myles Proulx, a volunteer and community engagement advocate at Family & Children's Services of St. Thomas and Elgin County.
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Myles Proulx of Family and Children's Services is the coordinator of LemonAid Day in Elgin County (Source: Brent Lale/CTV London)
'Overnight camp costs about $700, and day camp is about $300. We have a bunch of kids that have requested camp this year, so we could potentially send about 86 kids to camp'.
The goal is to raise $25,000 after bringing in $13,000 a year ago in the first annual event.
At Geerlinks Home Hardware in St. Thomas, dozens of customers were stopping on their way into the store to purchase a lemonade. They were dropping anywhere from $5 to $50 in the bucket.
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A customer supporting LemonAid Day pours a glass into a cup in Aylmer, Ont. on Saturday, June 7, 2025. (Source: Brent Lale/CTV London)
'I think this is a big one for us because it's involving kids,' says Danielle Geerlinks.
'We're doing this to send kids in the community to camp, where a lot of these kids maybe wouldn't have the opportunity to do that otherwise. We like to involve our kids in it and show them, sending it down into different generations, how important it is to support the community'.
Some of the camps involved include Camp Stevenson, Horseman's School of Equitation (HSE), Pearce Williams, as well as the YMCA, YWCA, STEM, STEAM and the City of St. Thomas.
'I'll give you a little story,' says Proulx.
'We had a young man that stopped by one of the lemonade stand's last year. He was in his 20s. He said he was involved with Family and Child Services when he was younger, and he was able to go to camp because of programs like this and he said, honestly, it changed his life. He gave a $20 donation, which is a beautiful symbol of what we're doing here. It's about community coming together, giving back for kids, families that might not be able to afford to send their kids to camp'.
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Children run the LemonAid Day stand outside of Geerlinks Home Hardware in St. Thomas, Ont. on Saturday, June 7, 2025. (Source: Brent Lale/CTV London)
Aylmer Police had a stand outside the Imperial Market in Aylmer Saturday.
'It's important when we keep the money in our County and support local,' says Deputy Chief Chris Johnson of the Aylmer Police.
'If we can send one kid to camp, we've done our job today'.
Judging by the early support Saturday, dozens of kids will get that opportunity.
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