September 6, 2006

Building Block

Build’s Volunteer Drive

If only you’d been properly instructed on the finer points of patenting, you could have turned your childhood lemonade stand into a multimillion-dollar franchise.

Well, you can’t make up for lost allowance, but you can volunteer with Build, a nonprofit organization helping underserved kids in Oakland and East Palo Alto turn lemons into lemonade companies.

Mentors are paired with high school freshmen (and another volunteer, in case you get saddled with a last-minute presentation in Albuquerque) to coach them on the basics of commerce. At weekly after-school meetings, you’ll help create a concept, name, marketing strategy, and ultimately a twenty- to 30-page plan to be reviewed by entrepreneurs at year’s end. Past programs have nurtured teenage party planners, a lip balm business, a lotion bar, and a rhinestone buckle CFO.

The real payoff, though, is helping someone go on to college by renewing their interest in education.

And who knows? You might even get a hot stock tip out of it.

To become a volunteer or for more information, go to build.org.