Alex's Virtual Lemonade Stand Team Wins Penn's Models of Excellence Award

On Friday April 6, 2010 the Alex’s Virtual Lemonade Stand team at the University of Pennsylvania was awarded a Models of Excellence Honorable Mention Award. Introduced in 1999, the Models of Excellence Award program recognizes notable staff member accomplishments at Penn that reflect initiative, leadership, increased efficiency and a deep commitment to service.

The Alex's Virtual Lemonade Stand Team at Penn collaborates each year for the past four years with the Lower Merion School District and with the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation in a two-week project to raise money for pediatric cancer research. The Alex’s Virtual Lemonade Stand Team at Penn is led by Heather Weisse Walsh, Manager of Educational Services at MAGPI, who each year manages the technical and organizational details to allow for schools across the U.S. and the world to participate in the program through interactive videoconferencing and web streaming. In addition, the event incorporates different fun programs and contests to encourage student involvement and to promote a sense of community spirit. Kids around the world from kindergarten through high school raised a total of $24,000 last year, and over $60,000 over the past three years by hosting lemonade stands and holding other fundraising events.

The Alex's Virtual Lemonade Stand project consists of several components that make this exciting annual service project engaging for all involved. The special kick-off videoconference includes a Lemon Spirit Rally Contest where schools show off their “lemony-ness” in performances from step teams to dramatic presentations, to original rap songs, etc. The school with the most “lemonade spirit” during the videoconference wins the Spirit Award. Use of a blog encourages schools and students to share their fundraising ideas and successes and provides ongoing updates on the amounts raised. The “Make A Difference” Commercial Contest gives students an opportunity to think about how they can make a difference in their community and then express that though the use of digital media by creating a 45 second "commercial spot." The Lemonade Stand Poster Contest helps students get the word out about their fundraising projects. Lemonade Bingo helps little ones stay engaged during the videoconference events by getting them involved in a scavenger hunt game which results in a unique lemonade bingo board. The Wrap-Up Project Collage Videoconference Event is a celebration of each school’s accomplishments.

The end result of the two week project is a highly successful event that has raised money for the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, a national organization with Greater Philadelphia roots, that grew out of the lemonade stand started in 2000 by then four-year-old Alex Scott shortly after she was diagnosed with neuroblastoma cancer. She wanted to raise money for pediatric cancer with the hope of finding a cure. Alex held an annual lemonade stand in her front yard until she died four years later. Her story has inspired many and their contributions to the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation have raised more than $10 million for childhood cancer research. Much of the money has been raised in small amounts during the past 10 years through many “grass roots” efforts across the country and around the world like those of the award-winning Alex’s Virtual Lemonade Stand project.

For the last three years, the Alex's Virtual Lemonade Stand project has raised over $60,000 and has become a "Top 100" lemonade stand for the Foundation. “Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation has been honored to partner with MAGPI since 2006,” says Gillian Kocher, spokesperson for Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation. “The Alex’s Virtual Lemonade Stand Project, which brings schools across the country together as they host lemonade stands for pediatric cancer, has raised an innumerable amount of awareness, teaching the important lesson that you are never too young to start making a difference. In addition, the funds raised through this unique virtual connection of schools has placed the MAGPI Virtual Project among the top 100 fundraisers! ”

For information on this year's Alex's Virtual Lemonade Stand project see the project website at http://magpi.net/Community/Programs/Alexs-Virtual-Lemonade-Stand.

For more information on the Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, please visit http://www.alexslemonade.org/.

Students To Take a “Virtual” Stand Against Cancer

MEDIA ADVISORY:

Students To Take a “Virtual” Stand Against Cancer
Alex's Lemonade Stand Goes High Tech, Videoconference to Link 1500 Students for Virtual Charity Event

WHEN: Wednesday, April 11, 2007, 11am EDT

WHAT: For the first time ever, over 1500 students across the country will be connected using high tech videoconference and networking technology to kick off a national community service event to help fight pediatric cancer.

The event is in support of the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF), a national organization that grew out of the Philadelphia front yard lemonade stand started by Alexandra “Alex” Scott, a pediatric cancer patient. In 2000, at the age of four, Alex opened her first annual lemonade stand with high hopes of raising money for pediatric cancer causes. Every year thereafter, Alex held an annual lemonade stand in her Pennsylvania front yard and inspired others to donate money to the cause. While sadly, Alex lost her battle with cancer in 2004, her work has motivated students around the country to continue her charitable legacy.

“As a grassroots organization dedicated to children, we are always looking for ways to encourage young people to get involved,” said Liz Scott, Alex Scott’s mother and vice president of development for ALSF. “Using technology to allow children to videoconference with each other for a great cause is an exciting new way to further the awareness of childhood cancer.”

Over 19 schools are involved in the event from across the country and will be lead by Penn Wynne Elementary School in Lower Merion, PA where Alex attended school. After the videoconference rally, students will work for two weeks in their communities to raise money using their own lemonade stands and will report their fundraising totals on a daily basis via a special website. Throughout the two weeks, students involved will collaborate with each other through an online blog, a virtual pen pal program, special video collage projects, song and poem contests and a lemonade stand poster contest.

The two-week event will culminate in a final multi-site videoconference on April 26, 2007 with special guest speaker Congressman Joe Sestak (D-PA) who will join via videoconference from Washington D.C. The final event will provide an interactive platform for students to share their experiences and project accomplishments with peers from different regions of the U.S.

The Virtual Alex’s Lemonade Project has been coordinated by MAGPI and Alex’s Lemonade Stand with technical support from Internet2.

For full details of the event, visit: http://www.magpi.net/programs/alexslemonade.html

MEDIA ARE INVITED TO LOCAL VIDEOCONFERENCE SITES FOR THE EVENT.

The general public is invited to watch live by following http://commonsvcg.oar.net/MAGPI- click on Alex’s Lemonade Kick-Off under the live conferences category. For more information please contact: Heather Weisse, MAGPI Applications Coordinator at 215-573-6417 or hweisse@magpi.net.

WHERE: Schools participating in the Virtual Alex’s Lemonade Stand Project include:

Avon Grove Intermediate School - West Grove, PA
Charleroi Area High/Middle School - Charleroi, PA
Cheltenham High School - Wyncote, PA
Comanche Elementary- Comanche, OK
Coppin Academy - Baltimore, MD
Cynwyd School - Bala Cynwyd, PA
Delaware Valley High School - Milford, PA
East Bradford Elementary - West Chester, PA
Feltonville School of Arts and Sciences (From The National Constitution Center- Philadelphia, PA)
Heritage Junior/Senior High School - Monroeville, IN
Onekama Middle School - Onekama, MI
Penn Wynne Elementary School - Wynnewood, PA
Pierremont Elementary School - Manchester, MO
Phoenixville Area Middle School - Phoenixville, PA
Pocono Mountain East High School - Swiftwater, PA
St. Charles School - Lima, OH
Squires Elementary - Lexington, KY
Whitehall High School - Whitehall, PA
Williamstown High School - Williamstown, NJ

ABOUT THE ALEX’S LEMONADE STAND FOUNDATION

Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation (a registered 501c3 public charity) is a unique foundation that evolved from a young cancer patient's front yard lemonade stand to a nationwide fundraising movement to find a cure for childhood cancer. Since Alexandra "Alex" Scott (1996-2004) set up her front yard stand at the age of four, more than $10 million has been raised towards fulfilling her dream of finding a cure for all children with cancer.

ABOUT MAGPI

MAGPI provides regional and Internet2 connectivity to its member institutions in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. A division of Information Systems and Computing at The University of Pennsylvania, MAGPI is committed to promoting advanced applications, collaborations, and services for the K20 research and education community through high performance networking technology. For more information about MAGPI, visit http://www.magpi.net

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