Schools Contribute Over $3,000 to Alex’s Lemonade Stand

	Dr. Elko, Mrs. Yantis, Kirsten Yantis, Mrs. Scott, and Mr. Vaughn at the School Board meeting.

From March to June of last school year, seven elementary schools in the West Chester Area School District sold lemonade and raised $3,196.70 to fund research into new cures and treatments for pediatric cancer.

The students, with help from their parents and school staff, operated their own Alex’s Lemonade Stands over that period of time. Speaking on behalf of the district’s Parent Teacher Organization Council, parent Stacey Yantis reported on the results to the West Chester Area School Board at their July meeting.

“We had many, many children who were pressed into service and who learned great things about volunteerism,” Mrs. Yantis said, adding that she tended to get emotional about the issue because her own daughter, Kirsten, is a cancer survivor. Kirsten is a student at Exton Elementary School. According to her mother, she survived neuroblastoma, the same form of pediatric cancer that took Alex’s life.

Mrs. Yantis then shared a letter that her daughter had written to Alex’s parents.

“I am really sorry that cancer had to end Alex’s life, but when she was alive she made one million dollar and gave it to the kids that had cancer like she did,” Kirsten wrote. “We all know that Alex should have been left free to live and do as she wanted to do. … What I know about her, if she got through it, she would have been an extremely amazing girl and had the best mom and dad in the world. That is why my mom and I raised about $200 for the kids with cancer.”

Liz Scott, Alex’s mother, thanked the district. Superintendent of Schools Dr. Alan G. Elko and School Board President Rogers W. Vaughn accepted a framed thank-you card while young Kirsten held a check for $3,196.70 made out to the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.

The seven schools raising that total included Stetson Middle School and East Goshen Exton, Fern Hill, Glen Acres, Sarah Starkweather and Westtown Thornbury Elementary Schools. East Bradford, Hillsdale, and Penn Wood Elementary Schools also operated lemonade stands but sent their money directly to the foundation rather than processing it through the PTOC.

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