Brothers Joshua, nine, and Isaiah Waddell, seven, recently read a book called “The Lemonade War.” 

Jaqueline Davies’ book follows a fourth-grader named Evan who starts a lemonade stand war with his sister, Jessie. The book, which has won the 2009 Rhode Island Children’s Book Award as well as the 2007 New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing among others, teaches children business terms and marketing tips through a funny and relatable plot line.

The entrepreneurial book sparked something in the boys, and they’ve never looked back.

Josh and Isaiah now run “Lemonade Bros,” a lemonade stand that is not only bringing sweet drinks to their neighbors but also giving back to the community along the way.

“The boys were like, ‘We gotta do it. We got to try,’” their father, Ron Waddell, said. “We kind of just connected the idea of giving back. A portion of our profits go back to support in that way.”

The first week that the brothers set up their stand outside of their building in Worcester during the summer of 2020, they made almost $200, according to Waddell.

“A lot was donations,” Waddell said. “It was like ‘oh wow. Maybe there’s something here.’ We were doing it in the middle of a pandemic and folks were still coming by.”

The Waddell brothers’ charitable actions go back a few years though. Around five years ago, when Josh was four years old, Waddell said that Josh saw a sign that a man was holding on the side of a street while they were driving by. Josh asked what the sign said. 

Waddell said that it was a homeless man and that the sign read “help.”

“We were going to church and we were teaching him about helping,” Waddell said. “We had to figure out how to help that guy. Josh has always been aware about giving back like that.”

Josh said that his favorite part of Lemonade Bros is that he’s able to help the homeless. He also enjoys pouring the cups to hand to people — though Isaiah said he won’t share the lemonade’s secret recipe.

Now, the Lemonade Bros have some marketing materials, including shirts and a logo.

Waddell also said that a mission of this business for him is to help teach entrepreneurship to his kids. 

“They’ve learned what they need for overhead, when will they turn a profit,” Waddell said.

The brothers understand business so much so that when Josh was asked what he is hoping to use his money for next, he said a Hawker and Peddler License so that they can start traveling and selling in multiple locations, beyond just their building.

The boys are saving for different goals and some money is also invested in the stock market. A portion of the sales each time, though, is used to buy Dunkin Donut gift cards to hand to anyone who may be homeless or have a sign on the side of the street as they drive by.

“We get gift cards so that when we stop at those lights or those stop signs, we can help them,” Waddell said. “That way it’s not money so they don’t use it for something that’s not great. That way the person can also buy something, because oftentimes if you need to use the bathroom you also have to buy something.”

To date, the brothers have handed out 50 $5 gift cards.