Local UPS Stores Raise Nearly $16K for Alex's Lemonade Stand

For the employees of eight area The UPS Store locations, the concept of service extends beyond the retail counter. In 2012, the stores hosted Alex’s Lemonade stands for the first time, raising $4,200 to help fight childhood cancer. In 2013, the team set out to more than double its previous total, setting an ambitious fundraising target of $10,000. With customers, store owners, and employees all pitching in, they far surpassed their goal, raising a total of $15,928.22 for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. 

At The UPS Store centers in Bryn Mawr, Exton, Lionville, Phoenixville, Tredyffrin, Wayne, West Chester, and Wynnewood, employees built creative lemonade stands out of cardboard boxes, decorated them in Alex’s signature yellow and blue color scheme, and greeted their customers with homemade baked goods and coolers full of lemonade. The fundraising success was a true team effort, with customers donating cash, employees donating their time to promote and work at the lemonade stands, and the stores donating one dollar to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for every package shipped on lemonade stand days. 

“Every day, we try to come up with new ways to make a difference through the service we provide to our customers,” said Khia Preston, Sr. Business Development Officer for the eight stores. “But we also feel very connected to the communities we work in, and we wanted to make a difference for those communities, and help our customers make a difference, too.” 

Store owners Daniel Brady, Kevin Brady, and Stephen Brady, brothers and lifelong area residents who opened their first location in 1989, first became involved with the fundraiser as a way to give back. “Our stores have donated mailbox services to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for years, so we already had a relationship with the organization,” Daniel Brady said. 

“We also liked that they are locally based, and that a very high percentage – about 90 cents out of every dollar – goes directly toward researching cures and paying for treatments and treatment-related services for patients.” 

The desire to make a difference has become ingrained in the company’s culture, and the employees’ generous spirit was demonstrated again one day in December, when Jill Schreiber, Head of Operations, decided on the spot to cut off her hair and donate it to ChildrenWith Hair Loss, a foundation for children who have lost their hair due to illness. 

“The owner of Normandy Hair Salon came in to ship a package, and when I heard about where it was going, I was moved in the moment,” Schreiber said. “I cut my hair to include in the shipment. My hair was really long, but it will grow back. Whenever you have the opportunity to impact another in a positive way, do it!”