by Trish Adkins

We hosted our very first family lemonade stand in our front yard during Alex’s Lemonade Days in 2009. Lily, my daughter who battled ependymoma when she was 14-months-old, painted our stand and served cups of lemonade to her preschool pals. Family and friends stopped by with donations and those who lived far away gave online. Our goal was $1,000 (which we never thought we could reach!) and we raised over $2,000. We kept building our stand—and then finally we grew it in a BIG way. 

Like, super big with over 1,750 gallons of lemonade. 

We broke the World Record for the Largest Cup of Lemonade in 2015. Our cup was filled with all that lemonade—which we drank! It was ridiculous and beautiful and still completely unbelievable, even to me. As my daughter, Lily puts it:  it was the best day ever. 

The next year, we returned to our front yard and you know what, that was also the best day ever. 

This is the effect of hosting an Alex’s Lemonade Stand—you have the best day ever because you know you are part of something bigger than just your own stand. You are part of a community of lemonade stand hosts who are fighting childhood cancer—one cup at a time. 

At all our stands,  amazing children show up with bags of change they saved or money they collected at their own lemonade stands. Every single donation added up to big things—things bigger than a 10-foot tall cup of lemonade. Every drop and every coin help get us closer to cures for children battling cancer—children just like my daughter.

That is my favorite part of Alex’s Lemonade Days:  even a small donation is a big donation—change adds up to dollars which add up to funding for researchers working to find cures and safer treatments. Every cup—no matter if it is a few ounces or a few thousands of gallons of ice cold lemonade—adds up to big things. 

Hosting a lemonade stand can be as easy as popping up a stand in your front yard or it can be as extraordinary as Alex’s “Original” Lemonade Stand–a family day of games, activities, and fun. No matter how big you want to make your stand, ALSF has an amazing team of in-house experts here to guide you to make your lemonade the hottest drink of the summer! Over the next month, tune into the ALSF blog with great tips from our team, including:

• Jeff, our Community Engagement Manager, with the insider stand tips you need to be successful;
• Ernie, our Digital Content Specialist, with everything you need to power up your lemonade stand online fundraising page;
• Megan, our Merchandise and Production Coordinator, with the event accessories that will make your stand “stand out” from the crowd;
• Anita, our Manager of Partnerships, with expert advice on how to get local businesses involved in your stand;
• Annie, our Communications & PR Specialist, who will share her tips for getting local press coverage;
• Jaime, our Social Media Specialist, with all the hashtags and social sharing tips that will help you go viral; and
• Jenna, our Donor Appreciation and Development Coordinator, with great ways you can say thank you to your supporters.

Alex's Lemonade Days, held June 3-June 11, 2017 is just 50 days away! Pick a date that week and host a stand! Sign up here (it's easy!).  Thank you for joining us to find cures, one cup at a time! 

Trish Adkins is the Web Content Writer for ALSF. When she is not writing on the ALSF blog, she is planning lemonade stands with her husband Mike and her three kids, childhood cancer hero Lily (who is now 11-years-old and cancer free!) and SuperSibs Chloe and Nicholas.