Brothers open lime juice stand, donate $$ to animal shelter

WHEN life gives you limes, make lime juice! Maraval brothers Liam, eight, and Graeme Ramsumair, six, combined their love for dogs and juice by setting up their own lime juice stall, later donating the money earned to the Trinidad and Tobago Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (TTSPCA).

Liam attends Cornerstone Academy and Graeme, the Maple Leaf International School. They both love animals but their favourites are dogs. While they do not have any of their own, they are hoping to persuade their mom to get them one, or ten. Who knows? But for now, they have a turtle named Sophie and some fish.

They told Newsday Kids they recently went to a camp hosted by "Aunty Gisele," who had some rescue dogs from the Port of Spain shelter. The shelter takes in stray/relinquished or lost dogs and cats and cares for them until they are adopted into loving homes or returned to their owners. Both boys said they had "a lot of fun" with the dogs.

But the idea of doing a lime juice stand was inspired by Liam's friend, James.

"I felt like doing a stand and asked (James) who did one with his cousin (some time before)," Liam recalled.

But he was not available, so he decided to do it with his brother instead.

Liam continued, "We went to (a grocery) and got the limes and then the same day, we made our juice."

They said the ingredients included limes, of course, water, brown sugar, Angostura Bitters and vanilla essence.

"We squeezed all the limes into a jar for ourselves!" Graeme said excitedly.

They sold the juice just outside their home and got people's attention by holding up a fancy, colourful, handmade sign.

A table was set up with red plastic cups, a cooler with ice, and the juice. One cup costed $5. They managed to rack up $47.

At first, they thought about keeping the money for themselves. But then they thought, "Why not give it to the dogs?" Graeme said.

"I liked the dogs so much," he added.

So proudly, they went to the TTSPCA with their mother Farah Ghany to donate their hard-earned cash.

"We went and gave the money to the people at the front desk," Liam said.

They said they felt happy after donating and would love to have more sales to continue raising money to help the animals.

Their friends' parents, as well as some of their teachers, are also now interested in donating to the shelter.

The shelter thanked the boys in a Facebook post saying they got a chance to walk through the compound and interact with the dogs.

The post added, "It was an absolute pleasure having them at our shelter and we hope to see these young gentlemen very soon. Well done, boys!"

Liam is not quite sure what he wants to be when he grows up yet, but Graeme is certain he wants to be a professional footballer.