Kids have a soft spot for animals, often begging their parents to adopt every stray that comes their way. Many have cherished pets of their own and wish that all animals could experience a loving home. While it is impossible to take in every homeless animal themselves, kids can experience great pride and pleasure in helping raise money and awareness for the animal shelters that can. “Gigi’s Fabulous Kids’ Fashions & Toys” in Rosemary Beach, FL has made it possible for kids to help “Alaqua Animal Refuge”, the area’s first no-kill animal shelter, in a very significant way.

“Gigi’s” recruits these motivated kids to volunteer at the lemonade stand held in front of the store in the summer on Saturday afternoons. “Gigi’s” furnishes the stand, the lemonade supplies, and the on-the-job training. The kids bring their passion for animals. They serve up delicious lemonade with a twist, a strawberry twizzler that can be used as a straw, for a suggested donation of a dollar. They also explain to their customers how the donations are used. With the help of photos and articles posted on a bulletin board, the kid volunteers are able to describe the “Alaqua Animal Refuge”, which is an independent non-profit organization. Situated on a picturesque 10-acre farm in nearby Freeport, FL, the “AAR” advocates the general welfare and humane treatment of animals by providing shelter, prevention of pet overpopulation, and adoption services. Some of the kids have experienced the Refuge first hand, either by volunteering there with their family, or by visiting it on a “Gigi’s” sponsored field trip. Others are only at the beach on vacation and may not be as familiar with the area but still want to help animals in any way they can. Each Saturday’s donation total is tallied and posted on a special section of the bulletin board called the “Lemonaire’s Hall of Fame” so that a friendly competition can take place between teams of volunteers. “Each week, kids will run in the store just to check out the bulletin board to see if their previous total has been beaten. The kids take such pride in raising money for the animals, and of course they all want to be responsible for raising the most!” says “Gigi’s” owner Geri Golding Higgs. “Kids naturally want to help others and I hope that by being recognized for doing so early on, they will continue to do charitable works into adulthood.”

“Gigi’s Fab Kids”, as the volunteers are called, raised close to $2,400.00 in lemonade sales for the “AAR” during the summer of 2008. “Gigi’s” and kids are already looking forward to trying to raise even more in 2009. This year, they will not only sell lemonade for donations, but on special Saturdays, they will also try their hand at selling their own art. “Gigi’s” will set up an art table with painting supplies so that kids can paint portraits of adoptable animals that are residing at “Alaqua Animal Refuge”. The original portraits will then be available for sale at a suggested donation of $10 each. A few of the young artist’s portraits may be selected to be reproduced into a new line of note cards to be sold year round at “Gigi’s” with all of the proceeds going to “AAR”. These special art Saturdays will coincide with “TRANSFORMATIONS” a fine art show and silent auction event that will take place in Rosemary Beach in July also to benefit the “AAR”.

“Gigi’s Fabulous Kids’ Fashions & Toys” is a magical place located in Rosemary Beach, FL. It offers spectacular children’s fashions in sizes 0-10 for boys and 0-16 for girls as well as accessories, toys, books, art supplies, and costumes for all ages. Recently, “Gigi’s” debuted it’s own line of one-of-a-kind kids’ jewelry all made in-house. Every time a child tries on clothes, their name is written in the star on the dressing room and they get the chance to have their picture taken and posted on the “wall of fab”. There is a model train that runs near the ceiling around the entire length of the store to entertain the husbands and grandfathers in particular. In addition to the lemonade stand events, “Gigi’s” also offers free art projects every Saturday morning and game night every Friday evening in season.

If you’d like more information about this topic or to schedule an interview with Geri Golding Higgs, please call 850-231-0110, or email gigisfabkids@embarqmail.com, or visit our “Gigi’s Fabulous Kids” facebook page.