Post Updated 5/2019 with current stand information.

I couldn’t wait to have kids that were old enough to sell lemonade at a lemonade stand. It is one of those mom-dreams, like catching fire flies and cloud gazing, that I would fantasize about when imagining life with kids.  Does it get any better?

And then one day as I was feeding my 2-year-old (at the time) breakfast, the Today Show was doing a story on Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation and the foundation’s annual ‘Lemonade Days.’  A certain week in June each year that the foundation invites people across the country to hold lemonade stands to help raise money for pediatric cancer research. I was hooked- a lemonade stand for a good cause- it does get better!  So, I marked my calendar for around the same time for the following year.

I had heard of the foundation in bits and pieces before, with a ‘Lemonade Stand’ flavor at Rita’s in which a portion was donated. And I had seen the logo pop up other places, but I had a lot to learn.  So as ‘Lemonade Days’ approached, I started doing my research on the foundation.  And I was blown away.

Alexandra ‘Alex’ Scott was diagnosed with a form of childhood cancer before her first birthday.  At the age of 4, she held her first fundraiser for pediatric cancer by holding a lemonade stand in her front yard because she wanted to find a way to help sick kids feel better faster. She continued this on an annual basis until sadly, she passed away at the age of 8. But by that time because of her inspiration and dedication to the cause, she had helped to raise over $1 million. Her parents then continued with her dream and started the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for childhood cancer. To date they have funded over 800 research projects to help better treat and work towards cures for childhood cancer. To find out more, please visit http://alexslemonade.org.

Wow.

A four year old battling cancer, hoping for a change.

As Nurses, my husband and I have seen the other side of this.  What sick children and their families go through.   We were so inspired by sweet Alex.  And we were eager to help.  Simply because we can.

So, in June of 2015 my husband and #1 got to work building our lemonade stand. The base being a wooden lounge chair that had seen better days.

We ran the idea by our HOA and received approval to hold a lemonade stand in the pool area of our neighborhood for the foundation.  We advertised throughout the neighborhood with flyers and on social media, inviting other neighborhood children to participate. We set up our fundraising page through the foundation and set our goal at $50.  I should have known better…

Before I knew it, we had neighbors dropping off bags of lemons and containers of lemonade.  And on the day of the First Annual Grayson Park Gives Back Lemonade Stand, we had lots of eager little volunteers.  It was amazing.  Our neighborhood embraced it y’all.  But what made it even more amazing was that on the day of the first stand, we found out that 2 of our neighbors were pediatric cancer survivors.

Instant tears.

They were so grateful for what we were doing and we were so grateful that they were there to celebrate with us. And now every year we honor them.

And that little $50 goal we had set, it was blown to smithereens as that year we raised $500.

Because people cared.  And because people showed up. And I’m pretty sure I spontaneously cried out of gratefulness for at least the following week.

And the best part. Every year it has grown bigger and better.

Last year our donation totaled $1,542.00!!! We even had news stations come and visit our little stand!

We have received hand-written notes from Alex’s parents and hand-written cards from the foundation.  I CAN’T even begin to explain how amazing they are.

All because of a little girl who wanted to help. One cup at a time.

We would love for you to join us to help Alex’s cause. And there are plenty of ways to do so.  This year’s lemonade days run from June 1-9.  It’s not too late to plan your own stand!

If you would like to help Grayson Park Gives Back reach our goal of $1,600, please visit our fundraising page at https://www.alexslemonade.org/mypage/1707435 . Or contact me at contact@seasthecrazy.com.  We would love to team up with you!

But for now, let’s say ‘cheers!’ to Alex. This one’s for you, kiddo. Extra sweet and icy cold. 😉