A sign of success: Catherin Chu, 8, holds a sign to help out during her school’s fundraiser at Rita’s Water Ice outside Roosevelt Mall on April 24. MARIA POUCHNIKOVA / TIMES PHOTOS
Generosity has never tasted so good, thanks to staff and students at J. Hampton Moore Elementary School.
The teachers and pupils at J. Hampton Moore Elementary School have a certain zest for fundraising.
A lemony zest.
They scoop water ice and they sell cookies to benefit Alex’s Lemonade Stand, the charity set up to raise funds to help find a cure for childhood cancer, said third-grade teacher Paul Dominguez.
They’re pretty good at it, too. Last year, their efforts netted $1,500 for the charity, he said.
As a group, the 1,200 kids at the Castor Gardens school are generous. They’re also very persuasive.
“We had six classes write letters to Taylor Swift to ask her to donate something,” Dominguez said.
The country music superstar responded with an autographed copy of newly released CD, Red, which the school will auction off on May 30, Dominguez said.
Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation began in 2000 when 4-year-old Alexandra “Alex” Scott sold lemonade in her front yard in Manchester, Conn., to raise funds for cancer research. Alex died of cancer in 2004. The foundation that bears her name has become a national fundraising movement.
The fundraising kicked off last month. On April 24, 13 Moore teachers, the principal and assistant principal served water ice at the Rita’s at Roosevelt Mall. Donations from customers and from Rita’s pulled in $400, Dominquez said in a May 1 phone interview.
Soon, the kids will be buying lemon cookies, again to raise money for Alex’s. Dominguez said he buys the cookies from a supermarket, bags them and sells them to the kids five for a dollar.
Also, the school is going to have a “Crazy Hat Day,” he said. Each pupil who donates a dollar to Alex’s Lemonade Stand will be allowed to wear a goofy hat to school.
You don’t have to buy cookies to contribute, Dominguez said. Donations to Alex’s Lemonade Stand can be sent to J. Hampton Moore Elementary School, 6900 Summerdale Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19111. ••
