Some Farmington children are using an unfortunate incident in town to help raise money and spread a message of racial diversity in their community.
Josey Gorman, 7, served up more than just lemonade at her stand on Main Street in Farmington on Friday.
“It doesn’t matter what you look like. It matters how you make people feel,” she said.
Each cup she pours has a purpose.
“To raise money for books to teach white people a little bit about black lives,” said Josey.
The Lemonade 4 Change stand was created after a “Black Lives Matter” sign Josey and her brother painted was destroyed.
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"The kids were proud and unfortunately a couple days later it did get whitewashed overnight with white paint and it was kind of a disappointing morning,” said Josey’s mother Amanda Gorman.
So with her help mom and that of her brother and neighbor they decided to turn lemons into lemonade.
Along with the stand, they've launched a website to buy educational materials for their local library and elementary schools.
It has already raised $2,500.
"The discussions have been real and certainly have been difficult, but the ones we have at home are the ones that have the most value because we’re producing the next generation here,” said Amanda Gorman.
It's knowledge they believe the community needs after they got some pushback when they posted the picture of the tagged poster on Facebook.
“And that to me was really unnerving in terms of where our community stood on their education in terms of racial injustice,” said Gorman.
Mike and Martha Cheshire, of Farmington, were the first customers Friday morning.
“This is wonderful that the kids are active and involved at this age. We have 5 grandchildren and they’re being raised exactly the same way,” said Mike Cheshire.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to support the Black Lives Matter movement,” said his wife, Martha Cheshire.
“It was exciting,” said Josey.
And, there’s a reason they set up their lemonade stand at a specific spot along Main Street.
According to the town’s historical society, abolitionists in Farmington provided homes for former slaves who overtook the ship La Amistad.
During this time of racial tension, 7-year-old Josey’s glass is half full as she & her loved ones are hoping to make a change.
One cup of lemonade at a time,
“I want the whole world to be peaceful,” she said.
