Country Time Offers $100 To Kids Whose Lemonade Stands Have Taken Hit During COVID-19

Businesses around the country have taken a hit during the pandemic, including those summertime staple lemonade stands run by your neighborhood's tiniest entrepreneurs. So to keep these kids' businesses up and running, Country Time announced it's offering bailout funds to help put "a little juice back into the economy."

Country Time's "Littlest Bailout Relief Fund" will send $100 stimulus checks (a Visa prepaid card) to 1,000 randomly selected young business owners 14 years old and under to help "offset the loss of revenue" lemonade stand businesses have seen this year due to health concerns and social distancing guidelines put in place as a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

This year is, indeed, different for lemonade stands. Back in May, police shut down a lemonade stand in Brooklyn, New York after a "large group of kids and adults gathered on the sidewalk in violation of rules put in place over the coronavirus," KNX reported, while teens in New York City set up a hands-free lemonade stand, according to the New York Post.

"Due to social distancing guidelines, lemonade stands aren't what they used to be, and we want to help kids foster their entrepreneurial spirit by offering a small relief to those who can't operate their lemonade stands this summer," Country Time spokesperson Andrew Deckert said in a statement.

Deckert tells Romper the company has already seen "enormous amount of positive feedback" and entries since the promotion was announced earlier this week. "We’ve seen people post online about how they are hoping to use the funds if they win for lemonade stand sanitization stations and we’ve also heard people talk about how their child has been asking repeatedly to set up a lemonade stand this summer but can’t due to the pandemic," Deckert says.

To enter for a chance to win $100 from Country Time's "The Littlest Bailout" fund, you'll need to visit Country Time's Bailout website where you'll enter the name of your child's lemonade stand, along with some other personal details.

If your child's lemonade business is one of the randomly selected winners, Country Time will notify you via email and you will then let the company know if you'd like to receive a virtual or physical prepaid card. What's more, you'll also receive a fun commemorative check in the mail. The contest ends on Aug. 12, so be sure to enter before it's too late.

"When we saw what the COVID-19 pandemic was doing to businesses all over the country and the relief efforts in place to support them, we wondered what Country Time could do to help," Deckert tells Romper, "and we’re very proud to see how The Littlest Bailout will help put some juice back in the economy."

If you think you’re showing symptoms of coronavirus, which include fever, shortness of breath, and cough, call your doctor before going to get tested. If you’re anxious about the virus’s spread in your community, visit the CDC for up-to-date information and resources, or seek out mental health support. You can find all of Romper’s parents + coronavirus coverage here.