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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