Spikes in violent crime in Chicago have blanketed news pages in recent months. But the recent uptick in violent/gun related crime isn't limited to the Windy City.

Just this month, two young teens were robbed at gunpoint while selling lemonade — LEMONADE!! — at a makeshift stand they had set up in their Peoria neighborhood.

Industrious and entrepreneurial thirteen year olds, Jude Peterson and Tristan Charbonnel, had made about $30 at the time they were approached by two youths, one of them brandishing a gun, and were directed to hand over the cash box. The boys complied, saying, "It was really surprising, but there wasn't really time to be scared."

Jude had been running the stand over the summer to learn about and develop his moneymaking and business building skills. And learn he did. He learned that as long as he's making money, there will always be those who feel entitled to take what's his and appropriate it as their own.

But now, unafraid, the boys are back on the street with the help of the Peoria Police Department who came out in force buying $20 cups of lemonade.

They are doing their part to support free enterprise by making more lemonade from the lemons of this frightening but educational experience.