Company offering 'bailout' checks for lemonade stands

July 21 (UPI) -- A drink mix company is offering a "bailout" for entrepreneurs in a seasonal industry hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic: the lemonade stand.

Country Time announced the "Littlest Bailout" program will distribute $100 checks to kids under the age of 14 whose lemonade stand plans were foiled by the COVID-19 crisis.

"We know this will be a rough summer for lemonade stands. And if the big guys are getting bailed out, why shouldn't we help the littlest entrepreneurs get the same treatment?" Country Time said on the program's website.

Would-be lemonade stand entrepreneurs are being asked to submit an essay about how they would spend their bailout money along with a photo of the sign they would have used for their abortive stands.

Applications for the bailout checks are being accepted through Aug. 14.