Ten Years of Lemon Love for Stollery kids

In it’s inaugural year in 2014, Simply Supper’s Lemonade Stand Day started with just 30 stands. Now celebrating its 10^th anniversary, the event has ballooned to more than 500 stands across Edmonton and beyond. Spearheaded by Monita Chapman, owner of Simply Supper, Lemonade Stand Day has become a community staple every summer.

“This event has created a movement in our community – having our youths give back to kids just like themselves,” says Chapman.

Kids are at the heart of the event – in both its fundraising cause and its driving power. A special part of Lemonade Stand Day is how it give kids a taste for entrepreneurship, philanthropy, marketing and customer service all at once. Thanks to the event’s many generous sponsors and its Junior Planning Committee, all registrants are provided with everything they need to run a stand: from materials to make posters down to the lemonade mix itself. This gives kids a chance to make their stand their own and to take control of the business process for themselves.

“Lemonade Stand Day is more than just raising money for the Stollery. It gives kids skills of running their own business, becoming philanthropists – learning little skills like counting money back, interacting with people or meeting their neighbours. Those are all important things that I strive to bring to our youth and to our community,” says Chapman.

When the Junior Lemon Squeezers open up their stands for the day, they can take pride in knowing their important role in running the stand, and, on top of that, they can gain motivation knowing that their hard work is benefitting sick kids. Kids who are just like them. Throughout the years, many Stollery kids themselves have hosted stands on Lemonade Stand Day. In fact, the event itself was inspired by a Stollery patient: Monita’s own daughter, Brooklyn.

“As a kid who has used the Stollery, it’s amazing to go in and see all the changes that have been made [because of Lemonade Stand Day], or even to go in and see that Lemonade Stand Day is on the wall, and that we’ve made an impact there,” says Brooklyn.

One of the changes being made thanks to Lemonade Stand Day is a revitalization of the Stollery Family Room. In recognition of the event hitting the $1 million milestone in 2021, the Stollery Family Room has been officially renamed Simply Supper’s Lemon Love Family Room. Renovations will begin in January 2024 with an anticipated re-opening date of spring 2024.

Preview of the renovations for Simply Supper’s Lemon Love Family Room:

Thank you to all of the Junior Lemon Squeezers, parents, volunteer committee, sponsors and dedicated lemonade-drinking supporters who helped raise a record-breaking $470,101.11 this year!. You’re making a life-changing difference for kids and families from backyards across Alberta and beyond.

All proceeds from this year’s event are going towards renovating the family room at the Stollery Philip C. Etches Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), located at the Royal Alexandra Hospital. This NICU helps as many as 1,417 tiny Stollery patients and their families each year.