Lemonade for a cause
Katie Smith poses at her lemonade stand at the 2013 Phil Campbell Hoedown Festival. Smith sells lemonade each year to raise money for her community.
PHIL CAMPBELL – Most children who set up a lemonade stand in the summer are hoping to rake in enough cash to buy the latest video game, their favorite DVD, or something else they’ve really been wanting to have.
But there’s one Phil Campbell student who is simply content with giving back to others.
For the fourth year in a row, upcoming PCHS seventh grader Katie Smith will be operating “Katie’s Lemonade” at the Phil Campbell Hoedown Festival, set for this weekend.
Just like every other year, Smith will be donating the proceeds from the lemonade sales to a worthy cause in the community.
“I just really like helping my community and doing things for others,” Smith said.
“It’s been a great feeling the past few years to be able to help out with different projects, and I just wanted to continue to do that this year.”
Smith had her first lemonade stand in 2011 and donated the profits toward the new playground at Phil Campbell Elementary School that was being built to replace the one destroyed just a month earlier by the E-F5 tornado.
In 2012, Smith raised money for her classroom at PCES so each student would be able to go on a field trip to see a ‘Peter Pan’ play.
And last year, Smith noticed that the school library at PCES could use some new books, so she donated her proceeds to the school so the librarian could pick out books that younger children would like to read.
As she gets ready to start the seventh grade and become part of the first class that will complete all their high schools years at the new Phil Campbell High School, Smith said she wanted to raise money this year that would benefit her new school.
“I’m sure they will be doing a lot of landscaping at the new school, but I wanted to donate this money for a special beautification project that will be dedicated in honor of the new school and all of us who will finally get to go to school there,” she said.
“This is really exciting for our community and for all of us who will be going to the new school and I wanted to do something that would celebrate that.”
For those who would like to support Smith, “Katie’s Lemonade” will be set up near the water tower at the Phil Campbell Memorial Park on Saturday from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Lemonade will be $1 per cup but donations will be welcome.
