When Life Gives Alex Lemons, She Makes Lemonade

In July of 2000, four-year-old Alexandra Flynn Scott created a simple lemonade stand that manifested into a national foundation to raise awareness for pediatric cancer. Despite Alex’s tragic death, her legacy lives on through the achievements of her beloved organization. Now, fourteen years later, the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation revisited its hometown on Saturday, June 7th from 10 AM to 3 PM at Penn Wynne Elementary School.

Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation raises both money and awareness for the Pediatric Cancer Society. Alex had been fighting neuroblastoma since before she was a year old, and seemed to be recovering until her family learned that her tumors had begun to grow again. After a stem cell transplant the day after her fourth birthday, Alex came up with a plan to organize a lemonade stand in the hopes that others would contribute money towards pediatric cancer research to “help other kids, like they helped me.”

More lemonade stands moved people around the world to start their own stands and give money to Alex’s cause, and at the time of her death at age 8 in August 2004, Alex had helped raise over $1 million to find a cure. Alex’s family made her short lifetime into a monumental legacy with the start of Alex’s Lemonade Foundation in 2005. Now, the small-town foundation has become a national success, raising more than $80 million in total to aid childhood cancer research.

Alex attended Penn Wynne Elementary School and Alex’s “Original” Lemonade Stand is an event that brings the foundation back to its founder’s beginnings. At the event, representatives from the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation board organized a family-friendly affair, complete with music, food, games, arts and crafts, and raffles; with all proceeds directly benefiting the Pediatric Cancer Society. Additionally, Bailee Madison, the Hollywood celebrity and Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation supporter, planned on attending and participating in this year’s event.