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Drink sales raise $600, utility bill will be paid
Published 12:00pm Wednesday, July 16, 2008Daniel Bobence never expected his simple Kool-Aid stand to bring in as much business as it did Tuesday afternoon.
Bobence, who has been working the stand all summer to raise money so his mom could pay the utility bills, earned over $600 in roughly five hours after his story appeared in Tuesday’s edition of The Daily Journal.
“My mom is going to pay the bills tomorrow,” Daniel said Tuesday night.
Daniel said his mother was also buying him a new PlayStation video game system.
Throughout the day, around 40 people stopped at the stand, with some leaving donations to the tune of $100.
Daniel says he is extremely grateful and overwhelmed with the support he received from the community.
Every time someone stopped at the stand and gave a donation, Daniel had them write their names in his notebook.
“Next time they stop, they’ll get a free Kool-Aid,” he said.
Daniel had many stories of kind and compassionate people that took the time to chat with him throughout the day, including one woman who could relate in a very personal way to the situation he was in.
He plans to keep up his Kool-Aid stand up and running throughout the summer. And while he may still be out there waving at cars as they drive by, he’ll be more concerned about enjoying himself than keeping the lights on.
It should be noted that a check of court records show that Daniel’s mother, Brenda Bobence, has been convicted of four separate counts of theft since 2004 in Otter Tail County District Court — one being a felony conviction. She has served jail time and paid more than $2,000 in fines.
