Liz Scott carries on the mission of her late daughter by inspiring others to rally behind Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.

A lot of good has come from the late Alexandra Scott’s determination to sell lemonade to raise funds to find a cure for childhood cancer. Just after her death in 2004 at the age of 8, her famous lemonade stand turned into a foundation, thanks to her parents Liz and Jay Scott, her family and the encouragement from supporters. Today, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation has raised more than $140 million, helping fund research and offering support to childhood cancer families.

The foundation certainly has its share of supporters in Greater Orlando, too, with numerous fundraisers, both large and small, being held locally throughout the year. One of the more notable examples was the 9th annual Orlando Chili Cook-off, which took place in February. Proceeds from the event, which was sponsored by Northwestern Mutual of Greater Orlando, were donated to the charity.

We recently spoke with Liz Scott about the foundation’s beginnings and accomplishments, as well as what’s next on the horizon.

On seeing the foundation grow…

When Alex said she wanted to have a lemonade stand to raise money, I thought it was cute and sweet, I just didn’t think it would raise very much money. I told her it would raise $5 or $10, so you can imagine that I’m pretty shocked to see that we’ve raised over $140 million. I think what surprised me the most was the way other people responded and how generous they were—not just coming to her stand, but sending donations and then some people having their own events and their own stands, just giving their time and talent to keep it going. It’s really just beyond anything I ever could have imagined or hoped for.

On making the decision to start the foundation…

Before [Alex] died, she had a goal of raising a million dollars and she reached it. After she passed away, in my mind, that was the end of it because she had reached the goal, it was her stand and she was really the spokesperson for it, but the first thing that inspired us to keep it going was the fact that other people were continuing it, without us asking them to. … After talking to different people and weighing the options, we knew that starting our own nonprofit was an option … [and] the more people we talked to, the more it just felt right. … I would say the thing that convinced me the most was hearing from other parents … one mom in particular, who I’m still in touch with. Her son was diagnosed within two weeks of Alex dying with the same cancer, and she emailed me saying how sorry she was, but she was so grateful that Alex had given us the opportunity to change it for other kids. I thought, you know what, she’s right. This is an opportunity, it’s not a chore. It’s not something we’re burdened with, it’s something we’re lucky to be able to do and from that point on, I was definitely willing to give it a try.

On what the foundation has accomplished so far…

The numbers don’t tell the whole story because behind the numbers are people’s lives. I would say the most exciting thing supporters of Alex’s Lemonade Stand and Alex, of course, [has been raising] significant money at a time where it could really have an impact because of technology, the way they’re studying cancer and what they know about cancer now, compared to 20 years ago when Alex was diagnosed. We were able to fill a lot of those gaps that were really stopping points for [making] progress. … [The] information now is so much more than when Alex started her lemonade stand and that’s not because of Alex’s lemonade, that’s because of the way everybody gets their information now. We’ve been able to fill in a lot of gaps that have really made a huge difference, so it was a combination of timing, being right for investing in it and being fortunate that Alex left us a platform to raise significant funds and to raise new money that previously wasn’t being raised for the cause. 

On what’s next…

As much progress as we’ve made, it’s not even close to being where it needs to be. We feel like we need to raise significantly more money to accomplish everything we want to accomplish and to have the chance for all children who have cancer be cured. We’re continuing to grow, we always have a wishlist of projects and things we want to do for the cause when we raise money, so our growth is really driven by the needs that are out there.

To learn more about Alex’s Lemonade Stand, visit AlexsLemonade.org.

This article originally appeared in Orlando Family Magazine’s September 2017 issue.