JAMESVILLE-DEWITT CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT – The Tecumseh Learning Pad, a special education classroom within the Jamesville-DeWitt Central School District, raised a record-breaking total with its district-wide lemonade stand this year.
The stand is held every April to coincide with National Autism Acceptance Month. The J-D project raised $500 with its first go-around and about $5,500 last year, but this year—its 11th altogether—saw the stand surpass the $7,000 mark for its highest-ever fundraising sum, exceeding the next highest by well over $1,000.
According to Meg Ames, teacher of the 12:1:4 special education classroom, the exact amount calculated this year ended up being $7,628. With that, she estimated that close to a thousand bottles of lemonade were sold.
“I’m just blown out of the water,” Ames said. “It’s become something I don’t think any of us even dreamt of that first year. I cannot believe it—it’s unreal.”
The entirety of the proceeds from the project went to evenly benefit ARISE Adaptive Design and the Central New York Autism Society of America (CNY ASA), and those organizations provided complimentary stickers and pencils to hand out to customers. Also, gift cards to buy supplies for this year’s lemonade stand were donated by Wegmans and Target.
Throughout the week of April 1 through 5, the rest of the school district’s buildings took part in the fundraising endeavor, with the main stand taking place at Tecumseh Elementary School that Friday, April 5.
Along with that primary stand run by a dozen Learning Pad students, there were pop-up satellite stands in the staff rooms of Moses DeWitt Elementary and Jamesville Elementary, in the staff lounge of J-D Middle School, in the district transportation building and in the main office of the high school, the latter owing to the fact that Learning Pad parent Stephanie Schellinger is the secretary at the high school.
Additionally, one of the high school’s students lent a hand by making earrings and donating the proceeds from the purchases to the cause.
To prepare for the fundraiser, Learning Pad students put together the lemonade bottle kits and created autism acceptance pins they passed out to district staff.
The project is also part of their curriculum, as it educates them how to communicate in a friendly and succinct way with customers, how to use their math knowledge to measure and mix the lemonade and, after the fact, the economics involved with the coins and dollar bills raised. There is also the advertising component that comes into play when the students design and hang up posters to promote the stand and its purpose.
On that Friday, the Learning Pad students pushed their custom-decorated cart down the hallways and stopped it in front of the classrooms for every grade level at Tecumseh. Each classroom teacher would then invite two or three of their kids at a time to go over and buy lemonade.
During one of the learning blocks, families of the special education classroom’s students came by to support the stand, and money also comes in from the greater Syracuse community through outreach that occurs in the weeks prior. Showing the longevity of the stand, a number of Learning Pad grads also returned to buy some lemonade.
“We had moms and dads and grandmas and grandpas and aunts and uncles and godmothers—all sorts of family and friends,” Ames said. “It’s a fantastic event, and you can tell when these families come in that they’re elated.”
Ames said she’s proud of her students for their hard work and grateful to everyone who either bought lemonade or donated money for their support in making the initiative a success.
“It’s just so heartwarming to me the fact that the building itself and the district and the community has been so supportive, because this event not only helps our particular class grow in our learning, but it also supports so many individuals in our community,” Ames said. “That’s something I’m so proud of these students for because they’re really making an impact for so many individuals.”
She said the energy at Tecumseh that Friday was all smiles and “filled with so much love,” adding that the stand has become a yearly tradition people look forward to in the district.
CNY ASA held its “One Step at a Time” Autism Acceptance Walk at Jamesville Beach Park the weekend following the multi-day lemonade stand effort.
There, the Tecumseh Learning Pad appeared as the grand marshals for the accompanying parade and participants in the ribbon cutting that kicked off the walk.
Though the Learning Pad is housed at Tecumseh, it supports elementary-age students across the J-D school district. The program supports students with their individual academic goals and needs while building their communicative, sensory and fine and gross motor skills.