Several days a week, eight-year-old Delilah Pharoah spends hours sitting in the grueling summer heat, hoping customers will turn up.
Excited, the owner of what has to be Guelph's classiest lemonade stand set up shop on Sloan Avenue for the first time last Thursday: but only one customer stopped by. Not entirely surprising, since the neighbourhood is not exactly within walking distance from most places, edging towards the outskirts of Guelph.
But when her mom, Lesley Pharoah, saw how determined her daughter was to make this work, she posted about it on social media, and things started to turn around.
In just a week, Delilah has raised over $100 – some of which she will keep, and some she will donate. A girl has to make a living, after all.
“She’s always been the type of kid who wants to pay her own way,” Pharoah said.
The youngest of five, she’s also usually looking for ways to keep herself occupied, and a lemonade stand seemed perfect: she could make money for herself while giving back to her community.
“She wanted to donate some of the money she makes to dog rescues, but she’s decided she would like to go with the (Guelph) Humane Society, so it covers all animals.”
Delilah was inspired to give back to an organization like the humane society because she’s seen a lot of videos where animals get trapped or hurt, and the non-profits helping them can't always afford the surgery, medication, or recovery.
“Sometimes the (humane society) doesn’t have very much money to help them,” she said. “So I wanted to donate money to help.”
The percentage she gives will depend on how much she makes.
There are two choices of lemonade, traditional or pink (Delilah’s favourite). A large cup is $1.00, a medium cup $0.75 and a small cup $0.50. Although, Pharoah says some people willingly pay more, inspired by Delilah’s hard work.
Dealing with cash and her own finances is also helping her with math, which Pharoah says hasn’t always been her strongest subject.
But Delilah’s favourite part so far has been “having lots of customers coming and sharing about what lemonade they like. It’s really fun.”
But running a business of your own does bring its problems -- one day, she ran into an inventory problem, running out of big-size cups. Fortunately, her dad was able to quickly go out to grab her some more.
The stand itself is impressive, built with the help of her dad, and painted entirely by Delilah. She chose pink and yellow, of course, to match her product.
The stand at 18 Sloan Ave., on the eastern fringe of the city, will be open for the rest of the summer, every day except Mondays and Wednesdays. On weekdays, she runs it from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., and on the weekends from 12 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekends.
