Information on schools having to shut down or cut programs due to budgetary constraints seems to be all over the news these days. It affects so many people – the teachers and staff, the community and of course the students.

In that regard, I wanted to tell you about a recent experience I had during a visit to a lemonade stand at the Donini Elementary School in Landisville, NJ. This was the 6^th annual lemonade stand that Donini has held for ALSF and through their remarkable efforts that occur throughout the year – selling paper lemons, having dress down days for teachers and securing support from their local community – this school with only 128 students in a quiet rural town has raised more than $25,000 for our cause. Simply amazing.

They actually devote the entire day to an Alex’s Lemonade Stand carnival of sorts with field games, races, dancing, a bounce house, dunk tank, face painting, food and (of course) lemonade! The event is open to the public and to show you how much of a collaborative effort this is – some of the signs of local businesses and at the firehouse and police station were updated to advertise the stand. Despite financial challenges, the town and community come together each year and give back because they simply care about doing the right thing.

What the classrooms at Donini lack in size, they certainly make up for in the impact they’re having on the kids attending. For instance, Donini had an entire class of 20 kids who were non-English speakers when they started in the fall, but after being taught in both Spanish and English, now speak fluent English. They also had several other kids in the English as a Second Language program.

Sadly, this lemonade stand that I attended will be their last at Donini as the school is closing at the end of the school year and the students will be split between two different schools in the fall. However, discontinuing their annual lemonade stand was never an option and they plan to keep up with the tradition at another school in the district next year.

In addition to the inspiring students and staff from Donini, I also met some fantastic people from the community. There was a man who came out because he was born with neuroblastoma as an infant (the same type of cancer that Alex had) and it recurred last year at the age of 45. I also met a woman battling breast cancer who stopped by to tell me that Alex was her inspiration through her last year of treatment. Finally, I met one of our loyal stand hosts Jake Ewan and his mom Debra who showed up wearing our new 2012 t-shirt (which had only been available for a matter of days at that point) to show what loyal fans they are of ALSF!   

Each year during Lemonade Days, the Ewan family holds a stand at their firehouse. This year, they have a sponsoring organization called “Hands Up The Pose” that tries to get people to pose with their hands up to increase awareness of a cause. This group has a donor who is giving $2 to the Ewan’s lemonade stand for each photo of people wearing yellow and doing “the pose” (up to $100) - check it out! As you can see from the photo to the right – I got in on the action during my visit. Put on a yellow shirt, take a picture and post it!

To say that this school and community is a special place would be an understatement. It was an inspiring day and I met so many wonderful people. I feel so lucky to work for such an incredible cause.

A HUGE thank you to Donini Elementary School and the entire community for your support!

-Liz Scott (Alex’s Mom)