Shortly before her first birthday, Alexandra Scott was diagnosed with neuroblastoma. At age four, after receiving a stem cell transplant, Alex told her parents, Jay and Liz Scott, that she wanted to help cure childhood cancer. That summer, she opened the first of her front-yard lemonade stands. By the time of her death at age eight, Alex had helped raise $1 million for pediatric cancer research and inspired a global movement. Her parents and her brothers Patrick, Eddie and Joey established the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation to continue her fight against childhood cancer.
Through children’s lemonade stands around the world, events, an online gift shop and social media, the foundation has raised $25 million to fund the testing and discovery of more effective and less toxic pediatric cancer treatments. The foundation also makes grants to relieve financial stresses on the families of young patients, sponsors programs to introduce children to philanthropy and volunteerism, and conducts a free annual symposium to help families cope with cancer.