What’s better than a nice, refreshing lemonade on a hot day while raising money for childhood cancer research? Can’t think of anything? Me neither. Lemon Sm:)es Lemonade is a stand that allows you to do just that. 

It started way back in 2008, when Lillian Hudnall and her sister Madeline set up a stand in their front yard for their friend Charli Preister. They ended up raising $150 (admittedly, $100 was donated by Charli’s dad). 

From those modest beginnings, Lemon Sm:)es grew.  Now, they set up their stand in front of Hy-vee, their biggest sponsor, and Super Saver. The stand is open for three days, usually in July, and is run completely by these enterprising young students. 

“Lillian and I run the stand all by ourselves; we organize all the sponsors, merch, dates, and people helping with the stand each year.” Emily Mausbach stated. They don’t just sell lemonade either. They also sell their own merchandise such as t-shirts and crewnecks as well as popcorn from Sweet Harvest. 

Every year, a different amount of people help. “Not too many people get recruited as it tends to get too crowded at the stands.” Emily mentioned. This year they got help from the “fantastic” 4-H group, CCC girls soccer team, friends of Lillian and Emily and Anchor News’ own Carys Graham. CHS students helping this year included seniors being Owen Papstein, Riley Gausman and Jimmy Eads, junior Maggie Luebbe and the sophomores were Dayanera Rullo, Dany Rodriguez and Charli Preister.

This year Lemon Sm:)es raised a total of $15,000. This includes money donated by their sponsors and their kickoff stand in front of Northwestern Mutual where they raised $500. In the past 14 years, they’ve raised over $100,000. Emily said, “By Lillian's ‘Senior Summer,’ we plan to raise over $150,000.” 

All of their proceeds go to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. Alex’s Lemonade started when 4 year old Pennsylvania girl named Alex was fighting cancer. When she passed, her parents started the foundation in her honor, which has raised over $250 million. 

So the next time they have their stand set up and want a nice glass of lemonade, go to the stand that smiles and know your search for a cool beverage is making a difference.

For more charitable acts made by CHS students, be sure to follow Anchor News on Fusfoo, Twitter, and Instagram.