Selling lemonade for a cure

This weekend, home-schooled students Bradley and Brianna Cordero, Lakeside, set up a "Alex's Lemonade Stand." Both Bradley, nine, and Brianna, six, are home-schooled students though the K12 program. Over 226 home-schooled students in Ohio participated and was the third highest in the world participating.

Bradley pulled his wagon with lemonade around Lakeside and then he was in Marblehead. Brianna set up her stand in the front yard of their home located at 245 Poplar. Bradley said, "The lemonade stand was sponsored by his home-school program and was started because of a four-year-old cancer patient named Alexandra 'Alex' Scott." Together, this past Saturday and Sunday both of the Cordero kids raised a total of $150.

Bradley said that he wanted to do this to help other children who are sick and needed help. This was the first time he has participated in the lemonade stand project sponsored through his home-school program.

In July 2004, Alex Scott announced a seemingly simple idea -- she was holding a lemonade stand to raise money to help "her doctors" find a cure for kids with cancer. The idea was put into action by Alex and her older brother, Patrick, when they set up the first "Alex's Lemonade Stand for Childhood Cancer" on their front lawn in July of 2000.

For the next four years, despite her deteriorating health, Alex held an annual lemonade stand to raise money for childhood cancer research. Following her inspirational example, thousands of lemonade stands and other fund-raising events have been held across the country by children, schools, businesses, and organizations, all to benefit Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for childhood cancer. On Aug. 1, 2004, Alex died peacefully at the age of eight -- she had raised over $1 million for childhood cancer research in her short lifetime.

Last year Alex's parents, Jay and Liz Scott, spoke at K12's Making Waves Conference in Philadelphia, Pa. The weekend conference brought together 64 K12 students from across the country to participate in an exciting program that teaches kids the values of leadership, teamwork, and community service. Since then, K12 has adopted Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation as its primary charitable organization and developed Operation Lemonade as the company's first major nationwide service project involving K12 parents, kids, teachers, and staff.

Bradley and Brianna are both enrolled in the K12, which is the nation's leader in K-12 home-school programs. K12 provides its curriculum and academic services to more than 40,000 students in 17 statewide online schools and other e-learning programs across the country. K12's mission is to unleash children's potential and maximize their success in life by providing access to an engaging and effective education regardless of geographic, financial, or demographic circumstances.

K12 Kids Make a Difference in the World. Operation Lemonade is only one example of how many of the 40,000 K12 kids across the country are volunteering, serving, and changing the world.