Saving the Rainforest One Glass of Lemonade at a Time: Cub Scouts Raise Money to Preserve 8,523 Acres

PORTLAND, Ore., June 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Cub Scouts from Takoma Park, Maryland recently raised enough money selling lemonade to protect a section of rainforest in Guyana more than six times the size of their hometown.

The project was based on a suggestion by Scout Alex Rice's father, Dick, chief economist at Conservation International, which has an innovative agreement to lease 200,000 acres of rainforest in Guyana. CI pays the government what it would have received had the area been logged.

CI has partnered with Save Your World(TM), http://www.saveyourworld.com/, a natural, quality personal care product company with conservation objectives. Save Your World(TM) is helping to pay the annual royalties and fees required to maintain this agreement.

Charging 30 cents a cup, the scouts knew they would be protecting significant acreage with each lemonade sale.

"We tried to make prices a multiple of 15 cents, because 15 cents saves an acre of land for one year" said Cub Scout Aaron Richards.

Drinks and snacks sold at the annual soapbox derby quickly generated $426.13 and with double matching funds from Save Your World(TM) and CI, the total $1278.39 saved 8,523 acres of rainforest for one year. Not bad for a Saturday afternoon.

The pace was set by Aaron, 11, and his sister Alana, 8, who together donated $171.33 -- a whole year's worth of funds saved for charity.

"I have been saving since last year because I thought we might do another lemonade stand to save the rainforest," said Aaron. "We get $3 allowance every week; $1 goes into the bank, $1 goes to anything we want, and $1 goes to community service or charity."

A local Cub Scout den in Takoma Park plans to carry on the tradition after Aaron and others move up to Webelos Scouts. According to Cub Master Scott Gilkeson, "This has been a great chance for the boys to get a good feeling about themselves and their power to do a good deed."

Contact: Donna Morrison VP Corporate Communications Save Your World(TM) 862-576-0191 http://www.saveyourworld.com/