By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
For many, going to work and collecting a paycheck is just a job. For a trio of brothers at Jefferson Elementary School in Great Bend, a summer lemonade stand meant a "bucket-list" opportunity to give back to classmates. Brock, Wesley, and Mason Bauer, with the help of a cousin in Kansas City, raised $111 to help pay for lunches at their school.
"One reason we chose to donate the money was because what we were going to spend it on was probably something we didn't really need," said Brock, a sixth grader at Jefferson. "So that's why we chose to donate it to school lunches, because they probably needed the lunches more than we needed what we were going to buy."
Mason, a first grader, insisted what the brothers wanted to buy was a beanbag chair. Instead, the brothers donated all proceeds from the sale to the school. The lemonade stand was set up at grandma's (Susan Bauer's) house near Broadway and Harrison. Wesley, a fourth grader, said it was all about drawing customers in.
"We had two signs," he said. "One over there pointing where our lemonade stand is, then one where our lemonade stand was. Then we just got people to come."
The brothers charged $1 a cup, but were surprised by the generosity of passersby. Some drivers gave up to $20 for five cups of lemonade. Others donated cash without taking any refreshments. The brothers worked the stand but had long-distance help from cousin Lily Holthus, granddaughter of Voice of the Kansas City Chiefs, Mitch Holthus.
"We're all brothers," Mason said. "We weren't the only ones. We had our cousin helping us. She lives in Kansas City. She couldn't come though."
Grandma paid for the materials to run the lemonade stand and gave the boys the option of keeping some of the proceeds. Instead, they decided to donate 100 percent of the take to Jefferson School. The $111 will help students without adequate funds in their lunch accounts.
The Bauer boys are the sons of Andrea and Rob Bauer of Great Bend.