Work

Kids Blooming Great Stall

Molly Bitmead, 9 and her brother Eli, 7 are having a roadside stall on Easter weekend
selling flowers.
Children have been playing shops for generations. And according to the parents of the Bitmeads, it’s good wholesome fun that gets them engaged in a project that teaches them about entrepreneurship, business and good old-fashioned customer service.
Molly and Eli are the children of second generation flower growers Sonia and Jeremmy Bitmead from Currey Flowers at Karalee.

Molly explains how they got started.

“We used to have pretend stalls at home, selling chips and drinks. One spring Mum had so many orders to get on the truck, she rang Grandma, who was looking after us, to come and help,” Molly said.

Sonia Bitmead said the children normally would just pull the petals off the seconds flowers and make flower soup but on this particular occasion Molly started making bunches.

“I told her if you make heaps of them, we’ll take them up to the road and sell them, so that is what they did,” Mrs Bitmead said.

“I made about 20 bunches, we took three buckets full up and they sold in 30 minutes,” Molly said.

That was about 18 months ago and each holidays they hold another stall.

“All the decisions are made by these two, the price and how the money is spent,” Mrs Bitmead said.

After they had raised a couple of hundred dollars, they donated the money to their sponsor child’s community in Guatemala.

“They used the money to buy a couple of animals, books, cooking utensils and vaccinations for her community,” Mrs Bitmead said.

This time they are raising money for schools in Samoa and plan to deliver the goods in person when they travel over there in June.

“We googled and did some research and discovered one of the schools there has just been blown down by a cyclone,” Molly said.

“Mum reached out to project abroad, they have organised for us to visit five different schools. The majority of the money will go to the school that got blown down to buy desks but we will also work with our local newsagency to get some supplies to take as well like pencils, and stationary, we want to line up with our pharmacist to get toothbrushes and toothpaste as well.”

Mrs Bitmead wants to thank the community who have really supported her children.

“They are very lucky to have the amazing support of the community, it’s been outstanding. They have jumped behind these guys,” Mrs Bitmead said.

The hard slog of stall day begins early. They make posters and draw flowers on them, spend an hour doing up the flowers, then set up the stall. The kids work out their money purse and how much change they will need.

“I have my own ninja turtle money bag,” Eli said.

They sell bunches of flowers for $4 or you can choose your own 5 stems for a $1.

The stall is at 172 – 230 Arthur Summervilles Road at Karalee and starts at 10am this Easter weekend, Saturday 31 March until sold out.

“I like the joy it brings to people and I like to think of why we are doing it, to help others,” Molly said.

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