When Life Hands You Lemons
Ryker Bush
The Ashland Beacon
It was once said that age doesn’t matter if you have the attitude and the drive to succeed. At just 17 years old, one local high school student, Sadie Jane Chaffins has proven that she has both the attitude and the drive to be successful in anything she sets her mind to accomplishing. Chaffins is a full-time student at Paul G. Blazer High School and is part of the graduating class of 2025. Like most girls her age, she enjoys hanging out with her friends and playing school sports. She is a two-sport athlete participating in volleyball and track and field, which can take up a lot of time. Chaffins takes great pride in all that she does, and it shows both on and off the court/track. Whatever she sets out to do, she gives it her all and blows the competition out of the water.
What sets Chaffins apart from most teens her age is the level of tenacity she possesses. Chaffins isn’t just a thriving high school girl at age 17, but she is a very successful business owner as well! A little over a year ago, Chaffins found herself wanting to get a job but quickly realized that being a resident of Greenup County, attending a school in Ashland and playing two sports simply didn’t allow the time that would be needed to hold down a job. It didn’t make sense money-wise either. Chaffins shared, “I live all the way out in Greenup County, which is a good little drive. I realized that there was no point in me driving to Ashland every day for a job because whatever I would make, I would end up paying out in gas money. But, I still wanted to have a job. So, I got to talking to my dad one day about a TikTok I had seen about people opening up lemonade stands and being pretty successful at it. So, it wasn’t too long after that conversation that we made it happen.”
Chaffins started selling lemonade anywhere she could that would allow her to set up her stand. Word quickly got around about the young Blazer student with the amazing flavors of lemonade and before she knew what happened, Chaffins little lemonade stand was the talk of the town.
Today she is the proud owner of her very own food truck where she sells her highly in-demand-hand shaken lemonades at various sporting events, festivals and outdoor shows. The name of her business is Sadie Jane’s Lemonade. She currently offers around 20 flavors of hand-shaken lemonade and recently she has added a sweet tea menu to her lineup. Chaffins’ mother, Amy Blanton-Chaffins, couldn’t be prouder of the success her daughter has been able to achieve in such a short amount of time. More importantly, she is proud that her daughter is a kind, loving and selfless individual.
One of Chaffins favorite things to do is to give back to her community and school in any way that she can. She often participates in fundraisers where she has donated a portion of the profits back to local teams and the community that she loves. Chaffins stated, “I just like to be able to give back to my community in any way I can, and the community helps me out in any way they can. You know, take Ashland’s baseball team for instance… I have gone to every single one of their games and in turn, they came to my track meets and volleyball games. So, I decided that I just really wanted to raise money for them, and it turned out great. The amount of support I have been given with my business is nothing short of amazing.”
Recently, Chaffins organized a large prayer gathering that was held around Paul G. Blazer’s track for a fellow student (Tay Thomas) who had been in a terrible car accident. Shortly after that, she also donated all proceeds from a day she set up at Blazer to help with Tay’s medical costs. Chaffins shared, “With all that’s happened recently with Tay (Thomas), I wanted to do something to help him. So, we raised money for him and donated it back to him because he is a good kid, and he deserves it.”
Selflessness and compassion for others aren’t the only admirable traits that Chaffins has going for her. She is also quite humble and always gives credit where credit is due. Chaffins claimed that she would not have been able to do any of this without the help of her parents Bobby and Amy Chaffins, her brother Nathan and the Wamsley family. Chaffins praised, “I really want to thank my brother, Nathan, because he has really helped me out a lot. I know that he is usually kind of hidden in the background and is typically pretty shy and quiet, but he does so much to help out any way he can. Of course, I couldn’t have done anything without the help of both my parents. They both helped to get me started, and my mother helps to keep me organized and getting everything online. She also does all my signs. I also want to thank the Wamsley family, both Scott and Christina Wamsley have really helped to get my name out there. They are both very loved in the Ashland area, so having them both share my stuff has just been such a huge help to the success of my business.”
You can find details about Sadie Janes Lemonade if you’re interested in booking her for an event or finding her latest stop by sending her an email at sadiejane06@icloud.com or contacting her through her Facebook page.
We could all learn a thing or two from Chaffins playbook. Chaffins is an inspiration to us all and truly showed us what is meant by the old saying, “When life hands you lemons… you make lemonade.”
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