Stollery lemonade stand fundraiser cracks $100,000 mark

Despite the torrential rain, a pair of Edmonton sisters surpassed their goal of collecting $100,000 for the Stollery Children’s Hospital this week.

Each year for the last decade, Taylor and Sydney Woodworth have held a lemonade stand, taking donations for the hospital in memory of a friend.

“Moses Felix was a little boy that my sister went to school with. She only knew him for a couple days in kindergarten because he actually passed away in the Stollery from leukemia,” Taylor said.

READ MORE: Edmonton sisters surpass $18K Stollery lemonade stand fundraiser goal

Moses died 10 years ago, and after a dinner table conversation about loss, grief and death, the Woodworth family decided they wanted to do something to help sick children.

“We started off getting only about $100. For us, that was amazing at the time,” Sydney said.

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“The first couple years, we just did it in front of our house, which was on the north end, and when we got bigger — around year five, I’m pretty sure — Sobeys in Namao offered their space,” Taylor added.

This year, the sisters are trying a new location: Southtown Hyundai at 3603-99 Street.

Their goal was to surpass the $100,000 mark when it comes to overall fundraising and they accomplished that earlier this week.

“It’s just a big milestone and it’s a big accomplishment to know that you’ve raised this much money just doing something simple like a lemonade stand and all the people have come together to help us achieve the goal that we wanted,” Taylor said.

“It’s amazing. I don’t even know how to explain it. It feels just so heartwarming. Like we really made a change in some part of the world,” Sydney explained.

READ MORE: Edmonton sisters raise thousands for Stollery with lemonade stand

Just four years old when the lemonade stand first started, Sydney is now 14.

The pair say they’re not sure what will happen with the lemonade stand in the future, but they’re happy to have inspired other children to start up similar stands for the Stollery.

“The Stollery does amazing things for kids every day,” Taylor said.

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“I think it would make a big difference if kids like me and my sister actually went and helped kids, the ones who are sick.”

The lemonade sale continues Sunday from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m.