Article by Connie Smith, Photos by Solar Oven Partners

Solar Oven Partners (SOP) Director Rick Jost returned from the recent mission trip to the Dominican Republic to a nice surprise. Eleven-year-old twins from Brookings, SD, Tess and Madison Pantzke, stopped by the SOP office with $150—enough to purchase a solar oven that will help a family in poverty.

Tess and Madison earned the dollars themselves, operating a lemonade stand in their neighborhood for two days this summer. At 50 cents for a glass of the classic summer beverage, and an equal amount for a choice of rainbow butter cookies, chocolate and strawberry cupcakes or puppy chow mix, the dollars added up in a hurry. “Our neighborhood has lots of kids in it and most of them came,” says Tess. The bike path by their house helped to increase traffic. So did their Mom’s promoting of the lemonade stand on Facebook. Photo: Waiting for customers at the lemonade stand to raise money for Solar Oven Partners.

The pair said they’ve had lemonade stands before, but decided to give the money this time to SOP. “Rick came and talked to our church (Brookings First UMC) about Solar Oven Partners,” explained Madison. The girls, who were completing a school program involving service projects, jumped at the opportunity to partner with SOP.

Following Rick’s presentation at church, the girls researched Solar Oven Partners on the computer. “We found out that many people in these countries spend most of their money on fuel, and so they don’t have as much money for clothes and food,” said Madison. “And so, solar ovens really help.”

After delivering the dollars, the twins learned even more about the SOP ministry. “We got to see how the solar ovens worked and we learned that we could go on a mission trip sometime,” said Madison. They’re even considering making a trip to the workshop near Volga.

How did it feel to hand their hard-earned dollars over to SOP? “It felt good to give all of that money away.” Rick’s response to the gift: “Pretty cool kids!”  Photo: Solar Oven Partners Director Rick Jost is all smiles as he receives $150 from Tess (right) and Madison Pantzke of Brookings First UMC.