'We can help him': City help local teen set up his own hot dog stand business
When 13-year-old Jaequan Faulkner started to suffer from depression in 2016, he chose to put his energy into a creative outlet to help him to deal with it.
Great idea, right?
So he set up a stand outside his house in Minneapolis, Minnesota, selling hot dogs, chips and sodas to his neighbours and any locals who passed by.
However, soon someone reported Jaequan to the city's health department due to the fact that he didn't have a permit for selling food.
Have you heard about the 13-year-old the City cleared to sell hot dogs? Jaequan Faulkner’s stand at 1510 Penn Ave N is officially permitted. He plans to take his food stand on the road to serve customers at places like the 4th Precinct. Our cops stopped by to support the cause. pic.twitter.com/S6ePP6VRlZ
— Minneapolis Police (@MinneapolisPD) July 18, 2018
Then an amazing thing happened – several city departments joined together to help the teen get a permit so he could start his own business.
“When I realised what [the complaint] was, I said, ‘No, we’re not going to just go and shut him down’ like we would an unlicensed vendor,” Minneapolis Environmental Health Director Dan Huff said according to the Good News Network.
“We can help him get the permit. Let’s make this a positive thing and help him become a business owner.”
Jaequan got training in food safety from some Minneapolis health inspectors and they even paid for his permit fee.
We first met Jaequan Faulkner and his summer hot dog stand in June. Someone complained to the city. Instead of shutting his stand down, the city of Minneapolis stepped up to help the 13-year-old get his permit. Next on @kare11. pic.twitter.com/WYKA8rqzEz
— Heidi Wigdahl (@HeidiWigdahl) July 16, 2018
Social media has been largely behind the young entrepreneur, writing messages of support such as, ''I absolutely admire the initiative of this young man'' and ''would love to see the face of the person who report him when they found out he was still in business…wishing him the best of luck.''
Another person said, ''the person who reported did a stupid thing, the state did the right thing, the boy is crushing it, AND he's considering donating proceeds to charity.''
There is now a GoFundMe campaign up and running in order to get Jaequan a mobile hot dog stand.
The teenager has revealed that part of the money raised will go to charity and any additional funds will go towards his college fund.
We need more young people like this, wishing Jaequan and his new business the best of luck!