On Wednesday, students from Squires Elementary joined more than 1,500 students nationwide to kick off a national community service event to help fight pediatric cancer. The students connected to each other by using high tech videoconference and networking technology.
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 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.
More than 19 schools are involved in the event from across the country and are lead by Penn Wynne Elementary School in Lower Merion, PA where Alex attended school.
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.
Source: FCPS press release.
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