The Jamesville-DeWitt Central School District’s special education classroom, the Tecumseh Learning Pad, is expanding its 12th annual Lemonade Stand in April to include all school buildings, the Transportation Department, and the District Office.
Senior Olivia Clark is spearheading the expansion as part of her Senior Capstone project in conjunction with the 12:1 (3:1) special education classrooms at J-D High School and J-D Middle School. It’s a full circle moment for Olivia, whose sister Morgan helped create the Learning Pad’s first lemonade stand.
Olivia also worked with staff to design and sell a special “The Tecumseh Learning Pad Lemonade Stand” t-shirt/sweatshirt that will raise additional proceeds. Shirt orders and donations are being taken online until Monday, March 17 at 11:59 p.m.
The lemonade stand is held in April to coincide with National Autism Acceptance Month. The stand raised more than $7,000 last year, and the Learning Pad hopes to bring in even more with Olivia’s help. The money will be distributed between the Central New York Autism Society of America and ARISE Adaptive Design.
“The autism acceptance lemonade stand is an incredibly special event that creates an opportunity to raise awareness, embrace friendship, and share kindness! I am so happy that the 12th annual lemonade stand will be a district wide one, spreading joy to those all around, through a single bottle of lemonade,” shared Olivia.
Stands will be available to students and staff at all school buildings, the Transportation Department, and the District Office from April 1-4. The Tecumseh Elementary School stand will be hosted on Friday, April 4.
To prepare for the fundraiser, the 12:1 (3:1) special education classroom students and their peers will be busy preparing hundreds of lemonade bottle kits and creating Autism acceptance pins that will be for sale. Special thanks to Wegmans, Target, friends, and families for donating supplies.
Learning Pad and Jamesville-DeWitt students will also take part in the Autism Acceptance Walk, scheduled for 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 26 at Jamesville Beach.