Alex Scott
Encyclopedia
The Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, or ALSF, is a US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 pediatric cancer charity founded by Alexandra "Alex" Scott
Alex Scott (Alex's Lemonade Stand)
Alexandra "Alex" Scott was an American cancer patient who operated a lemonade stand to raise money for research into such childhood cancers as the strain that ultimately killed her at the age of 8.-Personal life:...

.

In 2000, Alex Scott wished to set up a lemonade stand to raise money for childhood cancer research. Her first lemonade stand was a success, raising over $2,000 and turned into an annual tradition. This tradition continued after the Scott family moved to Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

 to pursue treatment for Alex at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia is one of the largest and oldest children's hospitals in the world. CHOP has been ranked as the best children's hospital in the United States by U.S. News & World Report and Parents Magazine in recent years. As of 2008, it was ranked #1 in the nation for...

. In the summer of 2004, Alex, at the age of eight, died from her cancer.

One nationwide event that ALSF is known for are "Lemonade Days," during which dedicated volunteers host "Alex's Lemonade Stands" across the country, during the same June weekend that Alex first held her original stands, from June 11 to June 13.

Foundation objective

The objective of Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation is to:
  • Raise money and awareness of childhood cancer causes, primarily research into new treatments and cures
  • Encourage and educate others, especially children
  • Raise money for childhood cancer, by holding lemonade stand events
  • Expedite the process of finding new cures and bringing them to children with cancer

Media awareness

By 2002 'ALSF' had attracted media attention and kids across the country began to hold their own lemonade stands. By 2004 the foundation was a national campaign, with lemonade stands and events in all fifty states, as well as Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. In 2004 alone the organization raised over $1 million. Alex and her family were featured on Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...

's television program, The John Walsh
John Walsh
John Edward Walsh is an American television personality, criminal investigator, human and victim rights advocate and formerly the host, as well as creator, of America's Most Wanted...

 Show,
and The Today Show, among others. Alex and her parents also wrote a children's book, Alex and the Amazing Lemonade Stand.

In 2006, the documentary "Alex Scott: A Stand for Hope," written and directed by Larry Mendte
Larry Mendte
Larry Mendte is an American commentator and American news anchor working at WPIX in New York City. Mendte was the first male host of the American syndicated television show Access Hollywood. His nightly commentaries are aired on TV stations across the country...

, aired in prime time on KYW-TV
KYW-TV
KYW-TV, virtual channel 3, is an owned and operated television station of the CBS Television Network, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. KYW-TV shares a studio facility with its sister station, CW flagship WPSG just north of Center City Philadelphia...

 in Philadelphia that was re-aired on 21 CBS stations across the country. The success of the documentary launched a telethon by the same name in 2007. The original documentary has been re-worked and re-aired every year since, raising over three million dollars for the charity.

Alex's parents, Jay and Liz Scott, work full-time at ALSF and speak about Alex and the importance of funding and raising awareness for childhood cancer at events, conventions, and seminars.

Funds raised

Since Alex held her first lemonade stand, the foundation has evolved into a national fundraising movement. It has become a registered 501(c)3 charity and has currently raised more than $45 million towards fulfilling Alex’s dream of finding a cure, funding over 200 research projects nationally.

Rita's
Rita's Water Ice
Rita's Water Ice is an East Coast regional chain based in Trevose, Pennsylvania in Bensalem Township, selling mainly Italian ice, frozen custard, and gelati , as well as its specialty creations.-History:...

, one of the nation's largest Italian water-ice companies, is one of several companies who enable the foundation to raise these funds. In 2009, throughout the month of June, more than 550 Rita’s locations sold $1 paper lemons to help the foundation raise funds to find a cure for pediatric cancer. In Rita's three years as a corporate sponsor of 'ALSF', it has raised more than $1.5 million for pediatric cancer research, and become the foundation’s leading corporate donor.

Other contributors to the ALSF include singer Celine Dion
Celine Dion
Céline Marie Claudette Dion, , , is a Canadian singer. Born to a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record...

 and comedian Jerry Seinfeld
Jerry Seinfeld
Jerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and television and film producer, known for playing a semi-fictional version of himself in the situation comedy Seinfeld , which he co-created and co-wrote with Larry David, and, in the show's final two seasons,...

.

The foundation has a gift shop, whose proceeds go directly to the foundation to help aid the fight against childhood cancer.

As of November 2010, Jennifer Garner
Jennifer Garner
Jennifer Anne Affleck , better known as Jennifer Garner, is an American actress and film producer. Garner gained recognition on television for her performance as CIA agent Sydney Bristow in the thriller drama series Alias, which aired on ABC for five seasons from 2001 to 2006...

 was serving as a celebrity ambassador.

Other donations come from volunteers who host fundraisers, partnerships with businesses and corporations; and individual donations made directly to the foundation.
  • Top Partnerships Include: Volvo
    Volvo
    AB Volvo is a Swedish builder of commercial vehicles, including trucks, buses and construction equipment. Volvo also supplies marine and industrial drive systems, aerospace components and financial services...

    , Applebee's
    Applebee's
    Applebee’s International, Inc., is an American company which develops, franchises, and operates the Applebee's Neighborhood Grill and Bar restaurant chain. As of September 2011, there were 2,010 restaurants operating system-wide in the United States, one U.S. territory and 14 other countries...

    , Rita's, Toys R Us/ Babies R Us, A&P, Elyse Ryan Jewelry
  • Anyone and everyone can host a fundraiser, simply pick a date and place,register on Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation Website,hold the event and mail the proceeds to:
Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation

333 East Lancaster Avenue, #414

Wynnewood, PA 19096

Business and other funding

USA Beverages, Inc., which also brews Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer
Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer
Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer is a brand of soft drink, of the birch beer type, whose trademark is owned by USA Beverages, Inc., a beverage bottler operating primarily in the United States. It is available in regular and diet varieties, and is sold in 12-oz. cans and 2-liter bottles.. Pennsylvania...

, markets Alex's Lemonade under license, with sales proceeds going to the foundation.

Kraft Foods
Kraft Foods
Kraft Foods Inc. is an American confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate. It markets many brands in more than 170 countries. 12 of its brands annually earn more than $1 billion worldwide: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Trident, Tang...

, whose Country Time
Country Time
Country Time is the name of a brand of lemonade drinks. It is a non-carbonated lemon-flavored drink mix and soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines. The powdered mix is produced by Kraft Foods...

 lemonade drinks are often sold at the stands, is one of the sponsors of the foundation. Indeed, Country Time is "The Official Lemonade of Alex's Lemonade Stand," and through it, Kraft Foods has provided more than half a million American dollars in support of the foundation.

The race horse "Afleet Alex
Afleet Alex
Afleet Alex is an American thoroughbred race horse who, in 2005, won two of America's classic races, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes...

" competed in the Kentucky Derby
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...

 at Churchill Downs
Churchill Downs
Churchill Downs, located in Central Avenue in south Louisville, Kentucky, United States, is a Thoroughbred racetrack most famous for hosting the Kentucky Derby annually. It officially opened in 1875, and held the first Kentucky Derby and the first Kentucky Oaks in the same year. Churchill Downs...

, the Preakness
Preakness Stakes
The Preakness Stakes is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs on dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds ; fillies 121 lb...

 at Pimlico
Pimlico
Pimlico is a small area of central London in the City of Westminster. Like Belgravia, to which it was built as a southern extension, Pimlico is known for its grand garden squares and impressive Regency architecture....

, and the Belmont Stakes
Belmont Stakes
The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...

 at Belmont Park
Belmont Park
Belmont Park is a major thoroughbred horse-racing facility located in Elmont in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, on Long Island adjoining New York City. It first opened on May 4, 1905...

 in 2005, and his owners subsequently pledged a percentage of his earnings to be donated to the foundation.

Fund allocation

Grants distributed from ALSF are designed to fill the critical gaps in funding, as identified by doctors and researchers across the country. Careful distribution of grants has allowed doctors and nurses to bring the latest and most promising life saving treatments to seriously ill children. The foundation has currently funded over 150 research projects at 50 institutions across the country.

Awards

  • The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
    Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
    The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia is one of the largest and oldest children's hospitals in the world. CHOP has been ranked as the best children's hospital in the United States by U.S. News & World Report and Parents Magazine in recent years. As of 2008, it was ranked #1 in the nation for...

     (CHOP) honored Alex with the Alex Scott Day Hospital.
  • The Philadelphia 76ers
    Philadelphia 76ers
    The Philadelphia 76ers are a professional basketball team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association . Originally known as the Syracuse Nationals, they are one of the oldest franchises in the NBA...

    renamed their 'Hometown Hero award' to '76ers Hometown Hero: In the Spirit of Alex Scott Award'.
  • Volvo for Life has established the Alexandra Scott Butterfly Award, which is given to a young person who has demonstrated exceptional courage and determination in helping others.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK