Sour Turns Sweet: Girl Funds Cancer Research With Lemonade Stand

When 6-year-old Abigail Marinari told her mother Carolyn that she wanted to run a lemonade stand this summer, Carolyn didn't think much of it. 

They'd run a small operation in front of the family's Parkville home and Abigail could keep the profits for herself; but when Abigail said she wanted to donate the money to help kids with cancer, Carolyn knew they had to go bigger. 

"I was thrilled. You know when she first wanted to do it and I thought she was keeping the money for herself, I said 'okay we’ll do this,'" Carolyn said. "[Then] when I found out it’s truly coming from her and she wanted to help other people I wanted to support her 100 and help make this successful for her because it means so much to her."

That's why this Saturday from 9 a.m-3 p.m. the Marinari's will be outside the Giant Food store in Parkville Shopping Center selling lemonade to raise money for the Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation. 

Carolyn said that Abigail, a student at St. Michael the Archangel School, first heard about the foundation from her kindergarten teacher Kim Eberwein. 

The Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, based in Pennsylvania, was started by 4-year-old Alexandra "Alex" Scott; Scott, a cancer patient herself, decided she wanted to start a lemonade stand "to raise money to help find a cure for all children with cancer."

Scott passed away in 2004, but her dream continues to be fulfilled by the foundation. 

The Marinari's have a website through the foundation and have already raised $65 dollars, Carolyn said. View Abigail's website through the Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation here.

"[Abigail] passed out fliers around the neighborhood, someone gave her $5," Carolyn said. "People have given $25 on the website."

Lemonade at the Saturday stand will be sold for a "free will donation," Carolyn said. 

"I’m happy with whatever we end up getting," she said.