Thriving Thursday!

Take a moment to see the good.

A new, heartwarming trend is taking place called “Grandma Stands.” These pop-up booths feature a rotating group of volunteer grandmas who lend a listening ear and offer wisdom to complete strangers. “Anyone can walk by the purple lemonade stand and sit down across from a real grandmother to chit-chat, ask advice, or just vent a little to someone who’s seen it all.

“This trend began when a reporter directed a struggling friend to ask his grandmother for advice. It went so well that this same reporter had his grandma set up a virtual booth in Brooklyn. Now in McKinney, Texas, a team of volunteer grandmas rotate counselor roles for the holidays behind the same style of purple lemonade stand that this reporter first used.

One of the grandmas stated, “We kind of know in our gut that we’ve lost a lot of connection, and true face-to-face connection. Which I think is what people find so refreshing [about] the novelty of sitting down in that setting.”