At a Lansdale, Pennsylvania farmers market, Madison McGill started learning math by having to correct herself whenever she gave the wrong change to buyers of goods and produce sold by her mom and other vendors. Five years into being a little helper, when she was 12, Madison started selling lemonade infused with leftover lavender that farmers gave her, along with cash tips.
“There was nothing for the kids to drink. There was just coffee, beer and kombucha,” said McGill, now 18, who had started going to the market, which her mother managed, when she was 7.
“They’re serving people in 100 degrees and 32 degrees, cooking up bacon. They deserve a living wage,” Charisse McGill had said.
In addition to, say, giving birth to an offshoot business and providing income for adults, farmers markets across the country have spawned youth markets that peddle produce and other goods. An income source for some participants, the youth markets also teach students about nutrition, while honing their social and entrepreneurial skills.
“The neighborhood has an abundance of fast food restaurants, but it doesn’t have easy access to fruits and vegetables,” said Bob Lewis, who, as co-founder of New York City’s State’s network of Green Markets, also has helped Two Bridges.
The youth set up tables of produce that they sell. No adults are on the sales team, which is overseen by an adult coordinator.
Paid weekly, each student is there for his or her reasons. Sophia Zhu, 15, enjoys talking to elderly shoppers and helping them select fresh fruits and vegetables. Also, said Zhu, who is considering becoming a chef, “I love playing with [our customers’] … dogs and getting away from my little brother.”
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Categories: New York, Business, Crops, Fruits and Vegetables