Elementary Students Sell Lemonade For a Cause

The warm, sunny weather June 6 provided the perfect backdrop for drinking refreshing lemonade and helping raise money for one of the best-known childhood cancer charities in the country: Alex's Lemonade Stand.

The day marked third grade teacher Abbe Cox’s fourth year hosting a lemonade stand at ’s annual Field Day.

Alex’s Lemonade Stand is a foundation that raises money for pediatric cancer research in memory of Alexandra "Alex" Scott, a Wynnewood, Pennsylvania girl who died from neuroblastoma--a type of childhood cancer--in 2004. Alex set up the first lemonade stand in 2000, to raise awareness of and funding for childhood cancer. Since her passing, the foundation named after her has raised approximately $40 million to fight cancers such as neuroblastoma.

The book “Alex and the Amazing Lemonade Stand,” written by Alex's parents Liz and Jay Scott, is what really sparked Cox’s interest in starting her own stand at Saucon Valley Elementary, she explained.

“I was just at Barnes and Noble and I saw the book,” she said. "When I was coming into work, I heard Liz Scott on the radio and I spoke to my fifth grade class about it at the time. They said they would definitely like to do it. The next year is when it really took off."

"It was interesting how everything happened at the right time," she added.

Since its first year, Lisa Curry’s second grade class and Nadine Snyder’s first grade class have followed Cox’s lead, helping to organize the stand.

“After reading the story, the kids wanted to get involved,” Curry said. "They were concerned and wanted to have that ability to help somebody else out."

"They realized that not all young kids have the opportunity to be at school, so let’s help out other children," she added.

On June 6, at the back of the school, students in Cox’s third grade class were busy tending to a long line of customers purchasing cups of lemonade, bracelets, pencils and other Alex’s Lemonade Stand merchandise.

"That’s another thing that passes the word," Cox said of the branded items. "It’s another way they can hold onto something and have a connection with this organization."

This year's lemonade stand turned out to be so popular that students in other grades took time away from their Field Day activities to volunteer as well.

And some students have become so committed to the concept of Alex's Lemonade Stand, and been so moved by the cause it supports, that they have started their own stands at home.

Julie Starr, whose daugher Rachel is in Cox’s class this year, was so inspired by the school's stand that she, her children and her neighbors decided to set up their own stand last year.

“It was something that we read about,” she said. “Ms. Cox had it every year so it was something that sparked our interest.”

Starr and her children went to the Alex’s Lemonade Stand website to learn more about what Cox had done, and how they could set up their stand.

“The kids wanted to do this. We did it with our neighbors, the Hofstaedters, and it was successful. We’ll probably continue to do it every year,” she said.

Cox said her class's lemonade stand typically raises about $1,000 during Field Day.

Katie Sharkey and Rachel Starr were two of the students who ran the stand for part of the day this year.

When asked how much money they would like to raise, Starr answered enthusiastically, “Five hundred dollars. Somewhere in the hundreds!”

Both said they were having fun helping run the stand.

Cox emphasized that hosting an Alex's Lemonade Stand fundraiser involves more than simply raising money for a good cause.

"I like them to take charge and be a part of it and know even one person can make a difference, just like Alex," she said of her students. "You don’t have to buy anything, you can just give your time and try to make a difference."

This year’s Lemonade Days, an annual nationwide Alex’s Lemonade Stand event, will be June 10-12.

To find out more about hosting your own stand or to donate to the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, visit www.alexslemonade.org.