Tag Archives: childhood cancer awareness month

Do Good, Feel Good: Out of this World Lemonade

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Ah, almost-summer. Time for sunshine, pools opening, long days (and short nights), and of course, LEMONADE. This past weekend my family hosted our third Out of this World Lemonade Stand to support Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation in raising money for pediatric cancer research.

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Despite hosting the same event yearly, each time is unique and incredibly rewarding. This was Little’s first official time “hosting” with his big brother and he took his job as ice scooper very seriously. His little voice rang out “CUSTOMERS!” every time a car slowed or people walked down the block.

We live on a cut-through street (you know, the one where people drive to avoid hitting lights) which really helps generate stand traffic. And, of course, we post signs at both ends of the block.

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We encourage the kids to run the stand as much as possible, with minimal help from us. I do have to say that social media helps a lot with reaching out to friends and family and sharing our donation page; that’s something that neither of them have at this point and won’t for some time! However, they are the ones who are squeezing the lemons, old school style.

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At the end of two days, between online and in person donations, we’ve raised $1,174.53. We set a slightly lofty goal of $2,000 and haven’t hit it… yet. But hey, if you’d like to help us out, please feel free to click the link (the in person donations aren’t yet visible).

While our lemonade stand weekend has passed, the official Alex’s Lemonade Stand “lemonade days” are actually this upcoming weekend! If you search here, you can find upcoming fundraisers in your area. Want to get involved and host a lemonade stand of your own? It’s not too late! Check out the Get Involved page.

Additionally, coming up in September is Alex’s Million Mile RUN.WALK.RIDE! We had an awesome team of 31 people last year and I’m betting that we can TOP THAT in 2014.

Let’s mix, pour, and find a cure one cup at a time!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2ml0oliUjU&w=640&h=480]

Do Good, Feel Good: Million Mile Run Wrap Up

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We’ll be honest, we weren’t sure how this month was going to go. That’s always the way with something new, something in its introductory year; whether it be a race, a blog, or an event, there’s always a slight fear of the unknown.

We heard about the Million Mile Run early in the summer and knew immediately we wanted to be involved. The whats and wherefores needed to be sorted out, but we knew the most important reason… the why.

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We’ve inundated our lives, our social media accounts, our friends and our families with yellow. We’ve shared facts, recipes, pictures, and videos.

And we haven’t done it alone.

31 amazing people joined us in Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation’s inaugural Million Mile Run event.

Sara, Heather, Katharin, Karen, Maureen, Jan, Suz, Cyanne, Nita, Kate, Keri, Melissa, Sarah, Shaina, Lisa, Beth, Ben, Kyle, Kristen, Wendy, Jenn, Ashley, Sara, Megan, Gene, Heather, Mark, Ashley, Anne, Brandi and Michelle… THANK YOU.

We thank you with our whole beings and if we ever see you in person (that will be sooner than later for some of you), be prepared for tacklehugs!

We got to hear some of your stories, reasons why this cause spoke to you and we thank you for sharing with us. Furthermore, muchas gracias for sharing your miles with the Million Mile Run.

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Our original mileage goal was 1,000, which we decimated within two weeks. Incredible! While a million miles weren’t achieved as a whole this year, 198,830 miles were “donated” to the cause. We’re sure that next year that number will grow exponentially.

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That’s $315 OVER our goal!  Thank you to all who donated, shared the link to our team, and raised awareness and funds. You are amazing!

Some of our team members really went above and beyond with fundraising efforts and as a thank you, we put together a Top Fundraiser Prize Pack. We gave a little sneak peek last week…

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The amazing companies, Sweaty Bands and Lace Locker, both graciously donated items toward our top fundraiser prize pack and we are so grateful. We know that our winner will put the headbands and lace stays to good use.

We happen to know that our tippy-top fundraiser loves Boom Chicka Pop and does not yet have a Scoot a Doot shirt. Watermelon Nuun because… yes.

But wait… there’s more!

The Chicks pooled resources and connections to add even more to the prize pack for our Don’t Stop ’til Ya Get Enough top fundraiser.

fundraisergiveaway2Oh yes! That is an Alex and Ani bracelet. A sweet Oiselle shirt. Bearded Brothers Energy Bar. Clif Shot Bloks. Wilbur’s Chocolate Coffee – because the melding of two of the best things ever is amazing and encouraged.

So let’s wave our hands in the air like we just don’t care for someone (but we do! And she does too!) for the woman who should go into nonprofit fundraising as a profession… MEGAN!

http://mandmpage.blogspot.com/

http://mandmpage.blogspot.com/

Rock on, Megan!

Should we say thank you again? Aw, what the heck!

Thank you. Thank you all so very much.

Best Lemonade Ever… No, Seriously!

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As you probably know by now from our blog posts, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts we are participating in Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation’s Million Mile Run. ALSF raises funds and awareness for pediatric cancer research. If you’re wondering why, exactly, we need Childhood Cancer Awareness month, please check out the infographic from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia at the end of this post. I learned a lot that I didn’t know and think that you might be surprised too!

But first, my family and I have hosted two Alex’s Lemonade Stands at our home for the past two years. I thought that I’d share our lemonade recipe. You might be thinking… lemonade from a mix is easy and convenient, why don’t they do that? You would be correct. But if you’ve met me, you know that I roll with the Type A crowd; why do something easy when something hard can be done? Fortunately, this lemonade isn’t too hard and it’s also deemed as the “best lemonade ever”. No, really, it’s first the first recipe that shows up when you Google that phrase!

Of course, we can’t just make one serving of the best lemonade when we are hosting a lemonade stand. That’s crazy talk! Especially when we need to fill our ridiculously large glass carafe.

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The “small” version calls for 1 3/4 cups of sugar, 1 1/2 cups of lemon juice and 8 cups of water. However, when we MEGA-SIZE it, everything jumps up. If you ever want to hold a lemonade stand of your own and make a large amount of lemonade… this is how we do it (cue Montell Jordan).

Ingredients:

  • 7 cups of sugar
  • 32 cups of water
  • 6 cups of lemon juice (we use a combination of freshly squeezed and bottled. The squeezing of lemons is a favorite activity for my boys!)

Directions:

  1. In a large pot, combine sugar and 4 cups water. Bring to boil and stir to dissolve sugar. Allow to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until chilled.
  2. Remove seeds from lemon juice, but leave pulp. In the carafe, stir together chilled syrup, lemon juice and remaining 28 cups water. (If you have a carafe like ours, make sure the nozzle is CLOSED before you do this. Yeah. Yeahhhhh. That’s all I’ll say about that little blunder.)
  3. Ice and slice! We usually buy bags of ice for both the carafe and each cup of lemonade. Add slices of lemon to the carafe to make it extra delicious.

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My husband and I decided to try to make an adult lemon beverage for this post. We settled on a Gin Fizz.

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But, um, the finished product tasted like lemon flavored cleaner. Or maybe it was a “guy” drink that I just didn’t enjoy at all because he drank his. And mine. So I can’t in good conscious share the recipe. You just let me know if you want it. (You don’t.) (Or maybe you do. If you like drinking lemon flavored cleaner. Not that I have anything against lemon flavored cleaner as cleaner… just as a drink.)

And hey, if you’re looking for a delicious sounding foot scrub for after those long runs or if you just need a little pampering, check out Sara’s post at The Classy Crafter.

Now for the most important bit of this post…

Childhood Cancer Infographic