Sunday, September 20, 2009

the pink lemonade project

If you're ever in need of a good fundraising idea, might I suggest a lemonade stand?

But to make it really successful, you might need to gather up several sets of triplets ...


Dress them alike ...


And set up shop in a busy pedestrian location.


Then, lead half of your similarly dressed children around the grounds in a "parade" while they carry homemade signs which advertise your cause...


And have the other half remain at the lemonade headquarters, looking adorable.


If you bring your fellow merchants ice cold glasses of lemonade, they might be so appreciative that they give you a show...


Or paint your face (and hands and arms) with glitter.

Keep in mind: the goal is to make money, so you don't want to eat ...


Or drink too much of your product.


It's great if you have some bruise-resistant fathers available to play with the children ...


So that mothers who wear pink pirate hats (that they had to pry out of their four-year-old daughters hands) ...


Can sell lemonade ...


Until they pass out cold.

All told, we made and sold about 20 gallons of lemonade which works out to about 300 cups.

There were so many highlights of my weekend. Watching our beautiful, healthy children run around and help drum up attention for this important cause was one. Seeing people generously contribute to something that has impacted so many of their lives was another. But the woman who had a mastectomy 12-years ago, that embraced me in a tight hug and thanked me - with tears in her eyes -was the most awesome experience of all.

Whenever I would ask people which cup size they preferred, more often than not, they would look at their chests before answering. Several women would wistfully say, "You know I always wanted a "D" cup!" and this weekend, it brought me SUCH JOY to tell them, "Well, today is your LUCKY day!"

22 comments:

  1. Jen,

    This was a fabulous thing you did! So fun and creative yet so rewarding. I love it!

    XOXO AM

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  2. You are an amazing woman.
    -J

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  3. You really make me proud to read your blog every day. I have read since little Henry was 5 months old. I just know Deana is smiling down on you right now. Keep up the great work.

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  4. This brought me chills to read. I only wish that I lived by you so that I could be there. You are such a special person who always amazes me.

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  5. Oh, Jen. You guys are doing such a fabulous thing and teaching your children such compassion. YOU ROCK!

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  6. Awww!! You are AMAZING! Pun intended!
    What a wonderful post and gesture!

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  7. Jen, please tell me again what kind of camera you use. Also, do you play with the settings or just use it on "auto?" Your pics are phenomenal!

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  8. Awesome. And tell Henry that it takes a real man to wear pink and look that great! ;) Good job.

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  9. I got a little choked up when I read this. What a wonderful thing you did. Wonderful for your children, and wonderful for the cause.

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  10. Awesome!!! Love all the creativity that went into it!
    Did you get any blog readers stopping by to buy lemonade?
    How were the sales...did you meet your goals?

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  11. All weekend I wished we would still live in SD so we could stop by ... such an awesome idea!!! I may not get the chance to choose my cup size, but I'll be donating this week for sure! :)

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  12. Really awesome idea!! So creative and fun -- great photos : )

    One of my mom's dearest friends passed away this morning -- started as breast cancer 18 months ago and moved quickly through her body. Such a hard way to die, for her and her family/friends.

    Your dedication is so admirable. Thank you : )
    Jeremi

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  13. Congratulations!

    You are AMAZING.

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  14. All of you - AMAZING! Thank you for doing this :)

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  15. Awesome. Amazing, even.

    A dear dear friend starts chemo for breast cancer Wednesday, so this is close to home. She has a three-year-old.

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  16. Anon: I use a Nikon D40X. But I also use a Canon Powershot that is small enough to carry around in my pocket.

    I don't know much about photography so my camera is ALWAYS on manual settings. One day I will learn the difference between an f-stop and an aperture, but for now, I know that natural light is much better than using a flash, so I try to keep the flash off as much as possible and take most of my photos during the day.

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  17. This was by far, the BEST fundraiser idea I've ever seen. I love the cup size thing. That just cracks me up every time

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  18. This looks absolutely FABULOUS! You are amazing, truly amazing.

    I work for Habitat for Humanity up here in Grand Ole Canada, and this past weekend we had a donation event in conjunction with an engineering firm and a bank (odd match up, but it worked. In the posters that were done up by the engineering firm to promote their event, they had put in a photo of when their company had come to participate in a house build. The day before the event, a home owner was volunteering with me to put in her sweat equity towards her house and I was telling her about the event the next day and asked if she wanted to come help out.. she took one look at the poster and gasped "That's MY house!"

    Watching her the next day interact with that team brought tears to my eyes and made the point that whilst I might not make a bucket load of money working in the non-profit sector, it is all worth while.

    Those moments.. and after reading your blog for..however long.. before Henry was a sermon miracle, I know you know where I'm coming from.

    Thanks for being amazing.

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  19. What an awesome thing to do! You are an inspiration. Your kids are getting a great education in how to make a real difference in the world.

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  20. Jen, thank you for all you're doing to help women like me stay alive! And mammograms, mammograms, mammograms everyone! Perferably digital. If the place you get your mammogram doesn't have a digial machine - NOT digitized film - find one that does. Or start raising a rucus until they get one.

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