When Max Igoe was 5 years old, His mother's best friend Beth Rorman, 37, lost her battle with breast cancer. Seeing the pain of his mother, a young 5 year old decided to make a stand against cancer. He started a lemonade stand to raise money towards a cure. "It's just the first thing that popped into my head," said Max, Now 14 years old. He told his mom that the money raised from the stand would go towards breast cancer research and maybe even help them discover a cure. "I explained to him that it wasn't the olden days that people don't buy lemonade from peoples' driveways like they used to,"says Nicki, Max's mother. But she didn't want to discourage him especially while he was mourning his "Auntie Beth's" passing. So she has been helping him mix juice, prop up tables to distribute hundreds of gallons of sweet pink lemonade, numerous raffles, "casino-night" fundraisers and days of labor for the last 9 years. Max has surpassed his wildest dreams by earning over $80,000 and still going. His goal is 1 million dollars and a cure.
Lemonade-Stand-for-Cancer-Research Video We can all learn from Max's selfless actions at such a young age. Which goes to show that you don't have to have an abundance of things or money to help others. You just have to find something you believe in that's a bigger cause or something bigger than yourself. Find your way to help the world.
There is a new epidemic flooding across the nation. Something called "The Sparkle Effect". It is a program with the High School Cheerleaders across the United States. They are adding students with special needs to the squads. "The Sparkle Effect" is a student-run program that helps create Dance Teams and Cheerleading squads that adds students with disabilities and special needs to help give confidence in a social environments. There are actually grants available to help with the purchases of uniforms and equipment. I look at this and think about the positive impact of being on a team had for me. I learned teamwork, dedication, responsibility, perseverance, social interaction, and belief just to name a few. Being apart of a team gives you something that is bigger than yourself and gives you something to fight for. I was blessed to have the opportunity to experience that and now, thanks to these high school kids, students with disabilities and special needs will experience the same thing.