Remember your first lemonade stand?

Several lemonade stands may pop up in Bluffton on Saturday, June 26, thanks to First National Bank's Young Entrepreneurs Program "The Lemonade Stand."

In recent years, First National Bank has been actively involved in financial education for youth in area schools, according to Brendon Matthews, vice president commercial lender of First National Bank. "Recently we developed a program called the Young Entrepreneurs," he said.

He said that the purpose of the program is to help education youth about commerce, business, entrepreneurship, personal responsibility, saving money and creative thinking.

"We want to encourage youth to get excited about earning money and taking personal responsibility for finances, even at a young age," said Matthews.

He adds that The Lemonade Stand program is an easy way for youth to use what they have learned in the Young Entrepreneurs Program.
To promote the program further, First National Bank created a free youth business kit. The kit may be used to help children organize their own lemonade stand, or for other creative ideas like mowing lawns or walking dogs.

The kit includes a zippered change bag, pen/pencil, checklist to use for organizing a lemonade stand, list of tips and ideas to make the stand even better, and a fact sheet about the other benefits of a youth account (called Moola-Moola).

Youth may participate simply by visiting any of First National Bank's branches in Bluffton, Pandora or Findlay. When opening a Moola-Moola account youth may ask for the free business kit. Those who already have a

Moola-Moola account may simply ask for the kit. Then, with the help of an adult, youth may use the business kit to organize and run their own lemonade stand or other business activity.

To help with the promotion, the bank is encouraging youth to operate their lemonade stand during the morning of Saturday, June 26.

"We encourage the community to support this Young Entrepreneurs program by looking for lemonade stands on June 26 and supporting them," said Mathews.

One additional perk in the program is that the first 50 youths who participate by asking for the free business kit will receive a free poster board to make a sign for their stand.

Lemonade anyone?