TREVOSE, Pa. — Rita's Water Ice, the nation's largest Italian Ice concept with more than 500 stores across 17 states, has raised $520,000 for Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) during its paper lemon fundraiser. Rita's has raised more than $1.5 million for pediatric cancer research over the past three years, becoming the leading corporate fundraiser of Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation.
During June 2008, more than 500 Rita's locations participated in the company's fundraiser and sold paper lemons in $1 increments to Rita's guests, which were then displayed in local stores' "Wall of Hope." In 2006 Rita's Water Ice officially became a corporate partner of ALSF and implemented its paper lemon promotion to help raise funds for pediatric cancer research. In honor of the Foundation's namesake, the late Alexandra "Alex" Scott, Rita's renamed its Lemon ice flavor "Alex's Lemonade." Lemon, one of Rita's two original flavor offerings when the company was established in 1984, is one of the company's five most popular flavors. To date, ALSF has raised more than $20 million towards fulfilling Alex's dream of finding a cure for children's cancer, funding more than 80 research projects nationally.
