On Saturday, 9-year-old Jacob Goeders and his family will be hosting a lemonade stand. But this is no ordinary stand. Goeders — who is six months into a three-year treatment program for acute lymphoblastic leukemia at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital — is holding the lemonade sale to raise money for pediatric cancer research through the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.
Alexandra Scott (1996-2004), a child diagnosed with cancer, founded Alex’s Lemonade Stand to raise money for pediatric cancer research in 2000. What started as a single lemonade stand in her front yard grew into a foundation that has raised millions of dollars for research. The foundation organizes annual Lemonade Days during the three-day period in June when Scott held the original event. The Goeders’ stand will be one of 2,000 stands throughout the country.
Jacob Goeders developed his interest in the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation when he was beginning treatment for cancer.
“As he was going through chemo, he lost all his taste for food, and he was craving lemonade. We went to Target and on the lemonade container was a label for the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation,” Sherry Goeders, Jacob’s mother, said.
Jacob has often said, “I wish there was a pill I could take and be cured,” she said.
And this lemonade stand “helps put it in perspective for him,” Sherry Goeders added.
In addition, as a child who understands the battle that is fighting cancer, Goebers “really wants to help other kids like him,” she said.
The Goebers’ stand will be open Saturday (June 11) from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Stanford Shopping Center.
More information is available online.
This is something we should all be able to understand, and certainly reaches beyond Palo Alto. I plan to be there Saturday – see you there?