SCOTT: Lemonade stand raises over $1,200 to fight cancer

By Editor | June 25, 2025 |

Kayson Shewmake, 7, left, and Kaison Shewmake, 6, right, set up an Alex’s Lemonade Stand on the square in Winchester on Saturday, June 14 to raise money for pediatric cancer research. Their goal was to raise $200. They ended up raising $1,246. (Submitted photo)

By Carmen Ensinger

It is always a good thing to teach young children about business and earning a dollar, but it is also important to teach them to be charitable.
Kayson and Kaisley Shewmake, of Winchester, wanted to set up a lemonade stand on the Winchester Square on Saturday, June 14, but they didn’t want to raise money to buy a new bike or video game – they wanted to raise money and awareness for childhood cancer by holding an “Alex’s Lemonade Stand.”
They held this event in honor of their dear friend, John Kemper, who is fighting cancer. They had a modest goal of raising $200 for their efforts. By closing time, they were thrilled to have raised a total of…drum roll please…$1,246.
In case one has never heard of Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation it is a wonderful program created by Alexandra Scott, a little girl who herself was fighting cancer.
Alexandra (Alex) Scott was born to Liz and Jay Scott on Jan. 18, 1996. Shortly before her 1st birthday, Alex was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a type of childhood cancer.
On her first birthday, the doctors informed Alex’s parents that if she beat her cancer it was doubtful that she would ever walk again. Just two weeks later, Alex slightly moved her leg at her parents’ request to kick. This was the first indication of who she would turn out to be — a determined, courageous, confident and inspiring child with big dreams and big accomplishments.
By her second birthday, Alex was crawling and able to stand up with leg braces. She worked hard to gain strength and learn how to walk. She appeared to be beating the odds, until the shattering discovery within the next year, that her tumors had started growing again.
In 2000, the day after her fourth birthday, Alex received a stem cell transplant. She told her mother that when she got out of the hospital she wanted to have a lemonade stand.
She wanted to take the proceeds from this lemonade stand to give to the doctors to allow them to help other kids, like they helped her. True to her word, she held her first lemonade stand later that year with the help of her older brother and raised an amazing $2,000 for “her hospital.”
While bravely battling her own cancer, Alex and her family continued to hold yearly lemonade stands in their front yard to benefit childhood cancer research.
Alex had set a goal of raising $1 million for pediatric cancer research and news spread of the remarkable sick child dedicated to helping other sick children. People from all over the world, moved by her story, held their own lemonade stands and donated the proceeds to Alex and her cause.
In August of 2004, Alex had raised around $750,000 when the family learned that a substantially large donation was coming in. Her mom gave Alex the good news that she had reached her goal of raising $1 million. Alex died 10 days later – her mother convinced she was hanging on until she reached her goal. She was only eight years old.
To date, the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation has raised over $300 million since that first lemonade stand and has become the largest independent childhood cancer charity in the U.S.
They have funded more than 1,500 cutting-edge research project at nearly 150 institutions across North America and Europe.