Courant.com

The Ross family of Vernon has been chosen as Connecticut's Hero Family State Representatives for Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation's (ALSF) national fundraising weekend. Alex's Lemonade Stand began in 2004, when Alexandra Scott, born in Manchester, set her sights on raising $1 million to fight childhood cancer, including hers.

Later living in Philadelphia to undergo treatment, Alex invited volunteers to join her in hosting lemonade stands to help achieve her ambitious goal, one dollar and one lemonade stand at a time. Through the help of these volunteers, Alex would reach her million dollar goal before losing her life to cancer in August of that year. Each June, the weekend before Father's Day, Alex's mission of raising $1 million returns through Alex's Lemonade Days, when supporters everywhere contribute to a cure.

The Ross's youngest daughter, Meredith, was diagnosed with t-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in May of 2012, when she was just 3 years old.

Megan Brown, Meredith's mother, said that her family has been involved with Alex's Lemonade Stand for the past three years, but is not sure how they were nominated for the honor.

"Friends of ours got together and started a team in training," she said. "We did that the first year, and raised money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society."

Brown said she decided to raise funds for organizations that solely fund pediatric cancer research and awareness, so Alex's Lemonade Stand was chosen. Brown said that through lemonade stands, running races, and a social media donation page, $8,000 was raised in their first year. To date, they have raised more than $12,000.

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