Amanda Belzowski knows that nothing is impossible. To date, the 12-year-old has raised about $135,000 for the Heart and Stroke Foundation, spoken to a room full of CEOs at the Toronto Stock Exchange about her fundraising efforts, and in 2007, she shared the stage with billionaire U.S. developer Donald Trump at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
Amanda Belzowski and her brother, Joshua, are seen here collecting donations for the Heart and Stroke Foundation lemonade stand in 2007. [CJN file photo]
And she’s not done yet.
Amanda, who has been running an annual lemonade stand to raise money for the Heart and Stroke Foundation since she was about two years old, has issued a challenge to kids nationwide.
“I really just wanted to teach kids that no action is ever too small and you’re never too small to make a difference in the world,” she said.
“I wanted to make kids realize that turning the water off or helping an elderly neighbour really does make a difference. I wanted to teach them that they can have their own lemonade stand.”
That’s why Amanda and her four-year-old brother, Joshua, launched the Nothing’s Impossible Challenge 2010.
The initiative, which will soon be detailed on her website, www.lemonade4heart.org, has six categories – conserving, volunteering, helping, fundraising, learning and sharing, and random acts of kindness.
Kids are encouraged to do something in five of the categories, such as bringing their family to a soup kitchen to volunteer or turning off the lights in their house to conserve energy.
Participants can log on and keep track of their progress on the website, a feature that should be up soon, Amanda said, and they’ll get a certificate upon completion of the challenge.
Amanda and Joshua will also match every dollar raised, regardless of the cause, by collecting an equivalent amount for her charity.
“All the money they raise goes to their causes, and we’ll meet that money and give it to the Heart and Stroke Foundation,” she said. “I think it’s important to realize that there are so many different causes. It’s not only Heart and Stroke, it’s cancer, animal shelters, cleaning up our world… I want to challenge [kids] to make a difference, I want them to see their progress, and I want them to do a lot of different things.”
Amanda’s lemonade stand started with a simple request. As a toddler, she saw a stand and asked to run one herself.
Lisa Belzowski, her mother, couldn’t refuse.
“She didn’t know what money was at that point, we thought it’d be a good idea to teach her. To teach her she could help other people. She raised $500 in her first year,” her mother said.
Now Amanda’s goal is to reach $200,000 for Heart and Stroke.
“When I was little, we started [raising money for Heart and Stroke] because my grandmother and great-grandfather had artificial [heart] valves, but really it’s gotten bigger than that,” Amanda said. “There are so many other important causes that we all need to help.”
While all the money raised at her lemonade stand goes to heart and stroke research, the 12-year-old also speaks on behalf of other causes, such as preventing malaria in developing countries.
Now, with Amanda’s 12th annual lemonade stand and Joshua’s second cookie counter coming up in May, the activist has another challenge to meet.
She needs to find a front lawn.
This year, due to personal problems, Amanda can no longer use her grandparents’ front lawn, where the event usually took place.
“The thing is that people have said, ‘Why don’t you do it at a community centre?’ And she’s really specific about saying, ‘I want to leave it on a front lawn,’” her mother said.
“Because that’s the message: anyone can do this. You can do it on a front lawn without having to rent out a place… I think it would be easier to find a school or park or something, but she really doesn’t want to change that message.”
Amanda’s lemonade stand will be held May 16. The ideal lawn would be visible and fairly large, around 100 feet by 60 feet. For more information or to volunteer the use of your lawn, e-mail [email protected].