Submit Your Volunteer Hours!

Use our handy Volunteer Log to keep track of your volunteer hours! Start it January 1st and send it to us by Dec. 1st the same year . We are a verified non-profit organization and can nominate you for the President’s Volunteer Service Award! Once we verify your hours and submit your nomination, you’ll get medal, a certificate and a letter from the White House. This prestigious award is helpful on resumes and college applications as a way for schools and employers to verify your service and volunteer accomplishments. For eligibility and details click here. Send your log to lemonaidwarriors@gmail.com by Dec. 1st.

Congrats to Jasper! This is his 7th consecutive award.

Jasper and Nicholas build a dorm!

Check out the before and after video! Our team, lead by Nick and Jasper finished a dorm that now houses 9 more children at an orphanage in Tijuana. This was a totally youth-led project. Special shout-out to superstar fundraiser and builder William C. and to Canadian Warriors Avery G. who sold roasted corn on his farm to raise funds. We couldn't have done it without LemonAID Warrior supporter and master builder, Paul DiMeo, and our partners at Corazon de Vida.

#UpForSchool Recap

So many loyal LemonAID Warriors helped me share the #UpForSchool petition at schools, rock concerts, conferences and events.  It all lead up to co-hosting a historic Town Hall event.  I handed off the petition with 10 MILLION signatures to United Nations leaders during the Sustainable Development Summit. Your voices demanding global access to education were heard by the most powerful leaders in the world!  Special thanks also to my co-host Rainn Wilson for making me feel comfortable onstage, and to Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi for hand delivering my personal plea to the United Nations world leaders.

Dynamic Duo!

This brother and sister team were inspired by Warrior Madi's successful Believe Bracelet project. They recently launched their own service project that gives comfort and love to shelter dogs through blanket donations.  These are 2nd generation Warriors! We mentored Madi and she mentored these next-generation social-good Warriors. Generosity and compassion are contagious!

Laser Tag PhilanthroParty Event

How do you turn a summer day into a step toward building a home for 35 orphans? Throw a Laser Tag PhilanthroParty Event! That's what Warrior Nicholas did and it put us over $800.00 closer to our goal. Thank you Ultra Zone Laser Tag and California Pizza Kitchen for your generous support. 

Warrior Nicholas Launches FRIENDS HELPING OTHERS

This is Nicholas. He has been a LemonAID Warriors superstar volunteer since he was 7 years old.  He is now 14 and we are proud to announce that he has launched his own service project, Friends Helping Others.  Through PhilanthroParty events and donation booths at Whole Foods and corporate fund matching, he has raised over $5,000.00 so far for an orphanage in Tijuana.  We partnered with him on his latest trip to visit the orphanage and it was such a joy to return the support he has shown us over the years.  Check out the video below of our most recent trip and here's a video of our first trip.

2015 Lemon:AID PhilanthroParty Recap!

JANUARY 2015

PEANUT BUTTER PHILANTHROPARTY EVENT

An Army of Lemon:AID Warriors kicked off the year with a Paintball for Peanut Butter PhilanthroParty Event. Admission to the party was a simple jar of peanut butter. At the end of the party the Warriors collected a total of 64 jars of peanut butter that was donated to a local homeless shelter! This is one way you can fight to end hunger! 

FEBRUARY 2015

TEENS4JEANS

Did you know that one of the most requested items from the homeless is a pair of jeans? Lemon:AID Warriors teamed up with the non-profit organization Do Something for their Teens for Jeans drive. Young people from around the US held drives and PhilanthroParty events to collect jeans for the homeless. One of our Warriors Emma was able to collect 195 jeans for the drive! Warriors in Canada met for coffee and brought in a pair of jeans. PhilanthroParty activities can be this simple! At the end of the drive Lemon:AID Warriors was able to collect over 800 pair of jeans for the homeless.  

Emma, our jean QUEEN

Java & Coffee? The Canadian Warriors!

MARCH 2015

BLOOD:WATER #WORLDWATERDAY

LemonAID Warriors teamed up with the grassroots organization Blood:Water for World Water Day on March 22nd. Blood:Water works to bring clean water to villages in Rwanda. It costs around $25,000 to bring clean and safe water to the village. Seems complicated right? It's not, when communities work together and spread awareness. On March 22nd, LemonAID Warriors gave up one type of drink, and only drank water. The money they would have spent on the other type of beverages was donated to Blood:Water's cause. If you'd like to join Blood:Water on their mission to bring clean water to Africa you can visit their link below. Let's save a drink and save a life, together. 

www.bloodwater.org

APRIL 2015

BRING BACK OUR GIRLS

200 Girls was started by Lemon:AID Warriors who care about the fate of over 200 kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls and 58 million children who don't have access to safe education. The Lemon:AID Warriors joined the march at the Federal Building in Los Angeles, California on April 14th to bring awareness to safe education and to ensure that the tragedy of the Chibok schoolgirls is not forgotten. Take action for education. Demand change. 

MAY 2015

SUGAR & STILETTOS BAKE SALE

Lemon:AID Warriors set up their stand for the 3rd year at the Sugar & Stilettos bake sale extravaganza! This event has raised over $60,000 for the Westside Food Bank and Saint Joseph Center food bank. Check out how much fun the event is below in the video!

JUNE 2015

ROCK THE ROXY: JOIN THE BAND

Lemon:AID Warriors teamed up with Join the Band and made some noise for education, with their biggest and LOUDEST PhilanthroParty Concert of the year: Rock the Roxy. 30 kid rock bands in 2 days rocked the Roxy to raise money and bring awareness to building schools in Nepal.  100% of the donations went to Room To Read. Room To Read has built over 1,000 schools in Nepal and are leading efforts to reconstruct schools that were damaged by the earthquakes that destroyed over 32,000 classrooms. We look forward to rocking the Roxy in 2016!

Lulu Cerone is a 2014 Halo Award Honoree

Watch a clip from Access Hollywood about Nickelodeon's Halo Awards that air Nov 30th 2014!  Lulu and 4 other youth change makers will be honored at this concert style award show. LemonAID Warriors from Los Angeles will also be featured in action!  

Sweet(est) 16 PhilanthroParty

If there’s one thing I know, it’s that I may never have a normal celebration again: philanthropy events and service are so worthwhile, and are even more effective when shared with others. People want to do good, they really do. It’s all about enabling that good to happen, and opening up segues for discussion, improvement, and awareness.  Many of the guests left saying it was the best party of their lives.  A few said it was the best day of their lives.  This was incredibly humbling to hear and is a testament to the power of emotional connection that was created--I think it was the charity aspect of the party that made it so successful. 

Morgan, 16 years old.

Let Morgan's story inspire you and share it with your friends!  Morgan has the heart, creativity and the leadership skills of a powerful Warrior.  Keep reading her story....

Meeting Lulu at KindCamp 2014, I was inspired by her idea of a philanthro-party event to make my birthday more meaningful. What society normally calls a “Sweet 16” celebration has the potential to be much more than that: instead of merely partying, it’s possible and sensible to make a difference in the world. Community service, charity, and animals have always been a huge part of my life, so I decided to combine these passions under one unified theme: benefitting a nationally recognized animal welfare/protection organization, the Humane Society of the United States. 

To give the event a mature, elegant feel, I went with a theme of “Rags to Riches.” When the guests arrived, we started off the day rock climbing, which served as an allegory for team building and the importance of helping each other along in the world.  The rock climbing allowed us to see the importance of trust and compassion and hard work; since we were belaying each other, our friends’ lives were in our hands. It was an experience that really grounded us and allowed us to develop empathy for one another as inhabitants of Earth: we  cheered for the girl reaching the next foothold, and shouted supportive words for the girl or losing her grip and dangling forty feet in the air....

When we arrived back home, I had set up a DIY garden gala setting with all-white drapes blowing in the breeze and a general theme of purity. I wanted my guests to feel relieved after exerting themselves for a few hours, and I wanted to emphasize how fortunate we are that we are able to experience something like a party, when many people and creatures on this earth do not know comfort. As we sat and dined, we discussed the significance of helping others and making the world a better place, and how best to do that when it seems like we are too young or otherwise too busy to do anything. There’s always a way to help, from donations to volunteering and everything in between. I asked that in lieu of gifts, my guests would bring donations for the Humane Society, and the funds we eventually raised to donate made the number 16 - and my birthday - seem insignificant in comparison, which is exactly how I hoped it would be.

What I really wanted my guests to garner from the experience was the sensation of coming together under the knowledge that if we’re all in this together, we can use resources wisely and make the most of our time here. It’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of every day life, and it’s easy to forget that our actions have consequences. I wanted to bring that into perspective and have my guests focus on a larger theme of unification under a common goal. 

Harvest Heroes for the Homeless

When LemonAID Warriors, Jasper and Nicholas planted their garden to feed the homeless in their community, they had a lot of help. Luckily KatiesKrops.com gave them a grant for the garden, Matt from Heirloom LA gave them some cooking lessons, and their 7th grade classmates volunteer to harvest and cook for the residents of a local homeless shelter  After the first year they are "growing" strong! Summer Harvest of tomatoes made for delicious gazpacho for the residents of a domestic violence shelter.

Matt from Heirloom LA gave them cooking lessons.

Volunteering at PATH transitional housing project.  Along with salad from our garden, Warriors donated their birthday money to pay for some of the food we served at PATH.

Juliet serves a resident of PATH transitional housing.

Buckley's LemonAID Warriors at PATH--a transitional housing program for homeless.

PhilanthroParty Food Drive: Lunch Bag Snack Sale!

Declan is famous for his creative save-the animal PhilanthroParty events.  And he has inspired many kids in his neighborhood, like  Nicholas, Natalie and Justin to throw their own PhilanthroParty events. But when he saw fellow warrior Jasper turn his back yard garden into a chance to feed hungry people through a grant from Katies Krops, he had a new idea. Declan and his mom already have a small back yard garden.  There's not enough harvest to cook an entire meal, so and Declan and his buddy, Desmond set up a stand to sell their harvest.  They added a few goodies that can go in kids lunches, like raisins, juice boxes and crackers.  Their Lunchbox Sale raised $107.50 in just 2 hours.  Now, its off to the Food Bank to deliver the money.  According to the LA Food Bank statistics,  that money will make 430 meals! Warriors inspiring warriors leads to an army of change-makers!

Here's the garden when the first planted it.

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Here's how it grew!

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The Harvest Lunchbox Stand!

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First Grade PhilanthroParty Carnival!

The last day of summer break can be the saddest day of the year.  But these LemonAID Warriors turned it into a big celebration.  They set up summertime fun activities and invited the class to meet the new kids. It was also one of the host's birthday.  He gave up presents and accepted donations to Children's Hospital instead.  They raised $1,000.00! One warrior said that running a LemonAID Stand was the last thing he had to check off his summer bucket list.  So my Extreme LemonAID Stand came in handy as we kicked off the new school year and celebrated a birthday in the best possible way.  THANK YOU for including me!

Watch what one of the hosts has planned for the day! 

Arts and crafts

They ended up raising $1,000 for Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Awesome!

When a lemonade stand becomes a LemonAID Stand!

This Warriors says it all!  Hear it for yourself.  When you add a "giving" twist to any activity, the fun-factor doubles.  What she says is proof that showing compassion toward others builds self esteem.   These LemonAID Warriors had the most enthusiastic stand of the summer!  And the fancy drinking glasses were a great touch!  

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Resourceful, Compassionate Heroes.

Animal rescue is the #1 cause  my youngest Warriors choose to support.  It makes perfect sense.  When you are little, you might not feel powerful enough to help big people or big causes.  But kids are bigger than animals and feel a special connection and responsibility to take care of them.  Their compassion is sparked and their confidence soars. When we get early exposure to these positive feelings it will likely lead to lifetime of service.  Unfortunately, most shelters require their volunteers to be 16 or 18 years old.  But that doesn't stop a true Warrior. Meet this brother/sister team.  She baked these beautiful homemade dog treats.  He passed out samples at the dog park.  Proceeds will go to a local animal rescue organization.  My dog is a seriously picky eater and he gobbled up the carrot and cheese treats and wanted more.  Can you  think of a better way to spend an August afternoon!

CNN online report of our 200Girls Campaign

CLICK HERE or on the photo for the full story….

Read about our Schoolgirl March

CLICK here and on the photo below to read the whole story… 

Elizabeth and Stella: 100th Day Vigil

Stella and Elizabeth lead LemonAID Warriors on July 23rd to mark 100 days of captivity for the kidnapped school girls in Nigeria. They also helped lead our 200Girls photo campaign and Rally.  LemonAID Warriors partnered with A World At School to show that we have not forgotten and we will continue to fight for a safe education for all.  You can keep updated with news and action plans through our friends at A World At School.

LISTEN HERE or click on photo to hear a portion of the name-reading as each missing girl's name was spoken aloud.  Virtual candles on hand-held devises were "lit" for a kid-safe candlelight vigil.

Young Warriors hold up the list of names of the 219 Girls still missing.

Our group and our messages.  WE HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN

Shane: Courage and Compassion

I was proud to honor my hardest working animal activist warrior, Shane for his extraordinary volunteerism at the museum for Animal Rescue.  At 13 he is my animal rescue partner's most consistent volunteer. He never misses an adoption event even when he is sick because working with animals makes him "feel better",  After spending most of his life in hospitals undergoing 12 surgeries including facial reconstruction and Pierre Robin Syndrome, Shane developed his true Warrior spirit.  Shane even uses his allowance to buy Starbucks for the other volunteers.  I have worked alongside him at pet rescue events and he outlasts us all.  Congratulations, Shane for reminding us all about working beyond our limits for the causes we care about.

PuckerFace PhilanthroParty Contest!

Check out our sure-fire way to put some pucker into any philanthroparty.  It's the perfect icebreaker to get the party started.  And after the party, you have a ton of amazing media to share plus a contest that can keep the party going for a full week after.  The contest keeps people coming back to LemonAID WArriors website, (or your causes's website) so they keep getting inspired.  If you send me your pucker face contest link, I will post it on my home page and your guests will have to come to my site to vote.  The hope is that they also see the Warriors I feature here and be inspired to do their own philanthroparty for their own causes!  I first tried this party when I spoke at the United Nations and was given a booth afterward to introduce LemonAID Warriors to youth activists from around the world.  It was such a hit, that I make sure to do one a year.  So if you are throwing a philanthroparty add a PuckerFace contest.  It's SO fun. 1.  Cut up a bunch of lemons in tiny wedges and place in a bowl.

2. Provide toothpicks, napkins and a trash bag nearby

3. Get your phone camera ready to shoot.

4. Have your guests suck on a lemon and then you shoot their best puckerface!

5.  The day after the party, upload the photos onto your facebook album and send the link to the album to your friends

6.  Instruct them to LIKE their  photo, and share the link with their friends to LIKE your photo too

7.  At the end of the week, the photo with the most LIKES, wins (prize or no prize.  its up to you)

Here's a collage I made of my last PuckerFace contest held at a fundraiser I did to raise money for a documentary that will feature Warriors from all over the country called ONE YEAR ROAD TRIP. 

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