A massive lemonade sale at Spruce Ridge School in Estevan today had less to do with quenching thirst than it had to do with raising money for a great cause. Spruce Ridge students more than delivered as they raised $1560.90 for Telemiracle 45. 

The lemonade sale, the idea for which came from a book the entire school has been reading called "The Lemonade War", was to take place this morning and a little bit yesterday so one of the cohorts could still participate. Students could donate any amount of money they chose to get their lemonade. 

"I'm amazed at the generosity," said Spruce Ridge principal Cheri Haberstock. "It was shocking to see the kids coming in with five and ten and twenty (dollar bills). One student even brought in a hundred-dollar bill to buy his lemonade."

To help drive up the spirit of competition, Haberstock had the A classes (the first of the cohorts divided up for COVID-19 protocols) compete against the B classes, with the B group taking the win. They also had the entire sale safely within the bounds of provincial health orders. 

"We bought pre-packaged lemonade, individually packaged and wrapped," she said. "So we didn't have to worry about the COVID protocols. We were very careful in handing it out, so we weren't worried about that part of it."

Haberstock admitted she was caught a bit off-guard by the outpouring of support for Telemiracle. As for the Estevan Kinsmen, they're getting a very pleasant surprise from this in terms of the size of the donation.

"(Kinsmen President Preston Majeran) was so shocked and so happy that we were doing this," Haberstock said. "It's such a great example for the rest of the community. Maybe there will be other schools, organizations, and individuals, who will be looking to give to Telemiracle because this brings it to mind."

As far as examples go, kids in Estevan have plenty of them when it comes to generosity. For Haberstock, who likes to give kids the feeling of being generous at a young age, this was a sign that many of them had already learned the merits of it. 

"The kids were so eager to give money for the lemonade," she said. "And it totally wasn't about the lemonade."

Telemiracle 45 is scheduled to begin on February 27 and wrap up in the early evening of February 28.