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player ready...Hundreds turned out for an annual tradition in River Forest on Sept. 11 — LemonAid, described as a kids-helping-kids charity fundraiser.
The event, which takes place every Sept. 11 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on the 700 block of Bonnie Brae Place, began in 2002, on the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. That year, the residents of Bonnie Brae Place took a somber day of remembrance and turned it into a day of action, never anticipating the tradition would become as impactful as it has.
That year, neighbors on the 700 block of Bonnie Brae Place set up a lemonade stand and raised $400 for Hephzibah Children’s Association.
Nearly two decades later, the annual event has raised more than $400,000, which has been disbursed to 24 local children’s charities. In 2016, for example, more than $40,000 was raised to support the Oak Park Food Pantry and PING (Providing Instruments to the Next Generation).
In 2011, the village of River Forest recognized the event by designating the 700 block of Bonnie Brae as “LemonAid Place.”
Led each year by local teenagers, the event is free to attend and guests can enjoy cold lemonade, popcorn, kids’ activities and live entertainment. The snacks and refreshments were also free, but donations were encouraged, and t-shirts, mugs, and other memorabilia were for sale as well.
Among the entertainers who donated their time and skills this year were School of Rock, the Bucket Band and Maywood Fine Arts — whose dance troupe has performed at every LemonAid event over the last two decades. Additional support was provided by the River Forest Public Library, Reuter’s Bakery, Ferrara Candy Company, Sheridan at River Forest, the Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest and Fitness Formula Clubs.
The co-chairs for this year’s event were Emory Chien and Amelia Hunkele, two 15-year-olds who attend Oak Park and River Forest High School.
Chien said the main difference of being a chairperson instead of a volunteer serving lemonade, a role he’s had in the past, was the realization of just how much work goes into the event.
“I get a lot more behind-the-scenes experience. It’s a lot more responsibility.”
Among the responsibilities Chien and Hunkele had were helping to choose what local charities would benefit this year. Chien explained the main criteria to qualify is that a charity must benefit kids.
After Chien and Hunkele narrowed the applicants down to four, they were required to make a presentation to the residents of the block and a vote was taken. This year, the chosen charities were Friends of the Children Chicago, a group that is trying to break the generational cycle of poverty and violence in Austin and North Lawndale; and the Oak Park River Forest Infant Welfare Society.
It was not yet known how much was raised this year, but last year, LemonAid raised $76,951 for the OPRF Community Foundation Rapid Response and Recovery Fund despite the fact that the event was mostly held virtually because of the pandemic.
Taal Hasak-Lowy, executive director of Friends of the Children Chicago, said being selected by LemonAid was a big deal.
“It’s huge. The money is one thing but being exposed to such wonderful, philanthropic people in River Forest is wonderful,” Hasak-Lowy said.
Kristin Schmidt, development director for the Oak Park River Forest Infant Welfare Society, said her group was told to expect at least $25,000 from the event — an amount that she said would help them a lot.
“We have a project that was put on hold because of the pandemic, to build a new children’s clinic that’s going to increase our capacity and provide new services and is back on track now. This event is helping us launch the public phase of our capital campaign to finish fundraising for the renovations. That’s going to mean a whole lot more access to healthcare,” Schmidt said.
