Two sisters in grade school start a successful rock painting business and donate a portion of the proceeds to a worthy cause—breast cancer prevention organization "Get In Touch."

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flsabella and Soledad Meade really
ty' know what it means to rock. ln fact,
they do it every day after they finish
their homework! Even though they're only
in elementary school the sisters from Milford,
Connecticut, are already the owners of Rock
On, a painted rock business that they acciden-
tally started back in May 2010. Accidentally?
Well, kind of. The whole thing began as a gift
for their mom.
"On Mother's Day I decided to make my
mom a garden because she likes plants, and I
thought it needed colo;" says lsabella, 10. "So -4f
I painted some rocks." Soledad, 8, noticed that l.
her sister could use some creative help, so she
began arranging the rocks around the garden
to make it look even more beautiful.
' When they showed the garden to their
mom, she was overwhelmed. "lt was a sur-
prise, and we yelled 'Happy Mother's Day!"' { :
Soledad says. "My mom kept saying, 'Thank ,{
you so much,'and gave us lots of hugs." H
Their dad was also impressed with the girls'
work. "Our dad said we should start our own
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business," explains Soledad. H
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Ever the proud papa, Mr. Meade put the ,$
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pictures of the rocks on his Facebook page.
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People began to take notice, posting mes- ill
sages asking how much they cost. Then they ;'lK
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began ordering rocks. The family couldn't '.3i1
mom*a Mother,s Day gift that launchei lrri""ri.
believe it! "
,But earning mone)/ for themselves wasn't With the help of their family, the two set
enough. The girls wanted to use the rocks to up a workstation over their garage. Rocks and
benefit others. "l'm a helper person," says paint take up two huge tables, one for paint-
lsabella. "l have all these ideas in my mind ing and the other for drying. "We do it one at
that are too big for me, but I am always think- a time," says Soledad. "l do the background
ing about how I can help people." and when it dries, Bella does the design."
Every year the family donates to a home- Lately they've been thinking about painting
less shelteri but the girls wanted to do even other things, too. "My dad found these chairs
more. 5o they decided to hold a rock-painting our neighbor was throwing out," says lsa-
contest as a fundraiser for Get ln Touchi a bella. Mr. Meade brought them home for the
non-profit breast cancer awareness organiza- girls to paint. They weren't up on Facebook
tion started by a family friend. People paid more then a few days when they, sold.
$5 to enter their painted rocks in the contest. "l'm getting better as an artist, and ljust
Others made generous donations. When it want to grow with our business," says Soledad,
was ovel the sisters had raised $ZSOI The giv- who plans to be a full-time artist when she gets
t ,ing;exp,erribhce felt so good, they decided they older;''tHopefullyWe can continue to make,
' wQuld donate a portion of all of Rock On's l
money for college."
. profits to Get ln Touch. "And help the community," lsabella adds. @