Staying cool with a Kool-Aid stand

Summer months in El Paso are hot and there’s nothing like a nice cool drink to beat the heat.

Two cousins in East El Paso, Nathaniel and Joshua Rodriguez, are offering Kool-Aid to thirsty customers at their corner stand.

On Wednesday, July 25th, they got some help with their stand from local police and firefighters

“There names were Mr. Sanchez and Garcia,” Joshua said.

The two officers called in for back up when they saw the stand; bringing more officers and firefighters to help. The police and firefighters brought ice, let the boys check out their police unit and took pictures with the boys.

They even encouraged cars driving passed to stop and buy some Kool-Aid from the stand.

The Kool-Aid stand isn’t just an idea the boys came up with. It’s a tradition in the family. Both the boys’s fathers sold Kool-Aid on the same corner when they were growing up.

“Me and my brother were out here 28 years ago,” Nathaniel Rodriguez, Nathaniel’s dad said. “It was just cool to come outside and serve the community kool aid. And it just brings me joy because my son and my nephew are actually carrying on the tradition.”

And the Rodriguez family wanted to make sure the police officers and firefighters who helped out know how grateful they are.

“I just want to thank Officers Sanchez and Garcia, Candia and Palomina for their generosity and for their acts of kindness,” said Sylvia Rodriguez, the boys’s grandmother.

The family also wants to thank Lieutenant Grijalva and firefighters Gallegos and Medina for their kindness and generosity.