Lemonade stand money to travel 2,400 miles

By Caitlin Smith

Hope Lyle, 5, waits for customers at her lemonade stand outside of D'Deli on Washington Avenue in Golden. In May, Lyle started raising money for a trip to help teach English, first aid and hygiene to a village in Costa Rica. So far she has raised nearly $150 for the trip. Photo byCHRIS STARK

July 14, 2005
Every Wednesday at 11 a.m., 5-year-old Hope Lyle sets up shop outside D'Deli in the heart of downtown Golden.

Sure, there are perks to the job — she's allowed to bring her My Little Ponies, cram natural potato chips into her mouth and take off her Velcro sandals whenever she wants.

But make no mistake — this little girl means business.

"Would you like some lemonade for charity?" she asks passersby from behind the pale yellow stand her mom's boyfriend, Corey Kowalsky, made for her.

" If they ask what kind of charity, I say we are going to help a town," Hope said.

In early August, Hope Lyle, her mother, Jen Lyle, and Kowalsky will make a service trip to the small Costa Rican village of El Surde Turraberes.

Jen Lyle, who Golden residents might know from her friendly over-the-counter service at the deli and Woody's Woodfired Pizza and Watering Hole, is completing a bachelor's degree in nutrition and hopes to make a career of spreading her knowledge of healthful eating in third world countries.

This trip, which will be facilitated by Globe Aware, a Texas-based organization which runs monthly excursions designed to help meet the needs of struggling communities all over the world, is a way to get her world-aid feet wet and share the experience with her daughter.

"Hope is a large driving force," said Jen. "I started to come up with these ideas [for global service] because I wanted to show her what is right in the world."

The young do-gooder who recently donated 11 inches of her hair to Locks for Love is starting to get the hang of it.

"We need the money to give to people," she said. "We need to stop the wildlife from eating their food."

The community of 500 is struggling because ecological preservation laws are prohibiting them from controlling the animals that threaten their crops. The weeklong Globe Aware programs in El Surde are meant to help the village towards its goal of becoming an ecotourism center.

Hope and her family will build trails, help teach basic computer skills, English, first aid and hygiene.

Globe Aware Executive Director Kimberly Haley -Coleman says her organization provides services for needs identified by the community.

"We don't believe in changing culture," Haley-Coleman said. "We prefer not to teach English, but if they ask for it we're not going to say no."

Volunteers for Globe Aware are required to offset the costs of their travel, including food, shelter and medical insurance. Hope and her family need to raise $3,000 to do so.

Since mid-May, the lemonade stand has raised nearly $150.

She said she will keep her weekly sessions right up until the last minute, including a special Buffalo Bill Days engagement, just one day before the three leave for Costa Rica.

© 2005 Mile High Newspapers, inc.
Jefferson County, Colorado