If you read last week’s blog, you may know that Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation has had the immense honor of hosting a lemonade stand at The Big East Tournament this week. The Big East Tournament is the longest running conference tournament at any one site in all of college basketball, and determines the conference champion. In addition, the winner of the tournament receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Due to our location, many of our employees, ourselves included, are fans of the teams involved. The teams represented by the employees in our office include: UConn, Syracuse, Villanova, Seton Hall and more. So needless to say, we were thrilled to count The Big East Tournament among our 10 high profile stands for 2010.

We should also mention that we owe our presence at this tournament to our founding sponsor Volvo.



The excitement for the 16 teams involved in the tournament, and for our staff at Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, began on Tuesday, March 9. As the first day’s games got underway, our lemonade stand officially opened for business. We were lucky enough to have a prime piece of real estate directly outside of Madison Square Garden’s main entrance, nearly every fan passed by on their way to see the tournament action. While we did certainly see some familiar faces, including Villanova’s Tri Delta sorority members, Alex’s Lemonade Stand also garnered some new fans.



As the games continued, and we drew closer to the championship, the lemonade stand returned to MSG on Thursday and Friday. We were treated to many performances by school cheerleading squads and bands – the school spirit was definitely palpable. Many of the squads stopped by the lemonade stand for refreshments, photos and to learn more about Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. Overall the week was a huge success not only in funds, but also in awareness raised, and of course on Saturday one team will solidify their place as the best of the Big East!

What a wonderful experience for everyone on the staff, and we owe a big thank you to Volvo. Here’s hoping that we’ll be back for more college hoops action next year!

- Jay Scott, Alex's Dad