One of the Founding Tenets at The Episcopal School of Dallas is “Service.” Collectively ESD students of every age dedicate tens of thousands of hours to non-profit organizations each year. In Middle and Upper School, students often also organize projects supporting organizations close to their hearts. At ESD’s 40th Anniversary Fiesta on September 5, the Class of 2020’s Community Service Council sponsored a lemonade stand and raised more than $1,200 for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer. 

Alexandra Scott, a young girl who battled Stage IV neuroblastoma, founded Alex’s Lemonade Stand in 1990. The organization helps raise money to fund biomedical research projects to find a cure for various forms of childhood cancer.

Leading up to the Fiesta, Class of 2020 parent and student volunteer spots filled up within moments of being asked. At the event, ESD community members purchased a cup of lemonade for $1 and signed their name on paper lemons to be posted on a nearby wall. By the end of the night, an entire wall of the Stephen B. Swann Center for Athletics and Wellness was covered with paper support statements.

“We sponsored this project in honor of Alex Podeszwa, the brother of Charlotte Podeszwa, a seventh-grade student at ESD,” a Community Service Council representative said. “It fits that this project is our organization’s first because it will not only benefit the greater community, but it will be a way to demonstrate our support for one of our families here at The Episcopal School of Dallas.”