LemonAID Warriors is grateful that companies like Prudential have programs The Spirit of Community Awards to support and encourage young change-makers. Share your work with your teachers and they might nominate you. Here is an article in the paper about all the California finalists. Click here to read more...
This article announces the winners of The Huggable Hero Award. Here is a movie I made when I applied. It shows a day in the life of a LemonAID Warrior. Check out the other winners and come up with Philanthro-Parties to support them!
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Dr Jeni Stepanek is the mother of my hero, MattieJT Stepanek,. He is a child poet and peace activist who taught me that "peace is possible when basic human needs are met). He inspires my work everyday. She provides support and advise for me and for my mom. She understand the life of a Warrior more than anyone on earth. I was awarded the honor of being certified a Peace Sponsor from Dr. Jeni Stepanek, from the Mattie JT Stepanek foundation. It's the award I value most. Join Mattie's Peace Club at mattieonline.com and take the Peace Journey. Maybe you can be the next Peace Sponsor.
[br] Lulu Cerone realized at a young age that she could “combine passions,” and in doing so, celebrate the things she enjoyed while also reaching out to help others celebrate life as well.
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It's kind of cool to stumble across an article about LemonAID Warriors that I never knew exsisted! Thanks mom.me blog for writing about us and spreading the word about youth activism.
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We did it! Blood:Water Mission has raised enough money to build a dam in Kenya. The Hanson concert ended up raising $15,000 thanks to our amazing supporters. Thank you for giving a dam!
Ok..so this was a big one. A fancy version of our traditional back yard concerts. We were going to do this in our back yard, but it grew too much. I wrote a letter to Hanson after learning about their work in Africa. I invited them to join me and my musician friends in a back yard concert...and they said yes. I know! Crazy, right? How is it possible to have so much fun AND bring clean water to a village of 3,000 people? That's what Lemon:AID Warrior's Hanson Gives A Dam concert was all about. Watch My Dam Party Movie below!
Happy World Toilet Day Today, Monday November 19th, is world toilet day. It may not be the prettiest way to celebrate this Grammy winning band Jars of Clay as my Spotlight Warriors. But I"m pretty sure they wont mind. This band founded my favorite water charity, Blood:Water Mission. They have accomplished water projects in 1000 African Communities and provided HIV patients with care. Now, they are taking another important step. Did you know that 2.6 billion people lack access to basic sanitation? That's what they wanted to talk to me about when I interviewed them before their concert. Toilets! Music and Philanthropy make a powerful partnership.
Hanson Gives a Dam! On October 25th, the Grammy nominated band Hanson performed at LemonAID Warrior's GIVE A DAM concert, to build a rain catchment dam in Kenya. These amazing musicians are also dedicated to helping our friends in Africa pull themselves out of extreme poverty. And on top of it all, they answered the request of a 12 year old girl when I asked if they would play in my back yard and trusted me and my warriors to host the show. They even let me and musician friends perform. They were also kind enough to sit down with me and talk about my two favorite subjects: Music and Philanthropy.
I was invited by a radio show called Love That Dog Hollywood to host a segment called "Warrior of the Week," where I spotlight kids who are socially active and making change in the world. I also interview musicians to talk about their philanthropic work. My co-host is 16 year old Lou Wegner who founded Kids Against Animal Cruelty, so we also network and find homes for shelter dogs. Nile Rodgers was a guest on the show. He is the Grammy winning, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominee who is the founder of the Three Dot Dash Just Peace Summit. Check it out!
Lemon:AID Warriors is forever grateful to Denise Restauri. She was the first one to recognize my little lemonade stands and through her Ally Katzz Tween Summits, she introduced me to a network of girls who are going to change the world. She nominated me for the Just Peace Summit and the best thing is that she checks in on me every so often to notice what I'm doing and offer encouragement. She was also responsible for a highlight of my life, which was inviting me to open the Year of Youth Culmination Ceremony at the United Nations in New York. Since that event, LemonAID Warriors became an even bigger part of my life and inspired me to accomplish way more than I ever thought possible. If you are lucky enough to have a mentor, like Denise, then there's nothing you can't accomplish. She writes at Forbes.com where she continues to give a voice to my generation. Sign up to recieve her posts and get ready to be inspired!
Here's my introduction at the UN.
I always love encouraging people to turn their passions into something good. One of my best friends Maddie did exactly that. She turned her passion for music and singing into something good, by deciding to sing to seniors with her classmates. She rallied me and her classmates, organized some rehearsals at her house after school and her mom booked us "gigs" at local senior homes and sing to the residents. The seniors had really interesting life stories and the staff were especially happy we came. They have hard jobs and I think they were happy to have a break to hear some music. I caught them dancing in the kitchen! Afterwards, we visited with the seniors and had snacks. Thank you Maddie for having the true Lemon:AID Warriors spirit! Check out her blog here!
My band, R.I.P. Adam Buttons, along with my brothers band, Chicken on Fire, played a concert we arranged with our music teacher. We spent the summer writing songs and rehearsing. We sold snacks and drinks in the lobby for the dog rescue charity, Love That Dog Hollywood. We ended up raising over $200.00 but the part was...a dog was adopted and saved from a kill-shelter. I'm happy to announce that Bandit the straggly rat- dog went home with me and my brother!!! We've been begging for a dog for years and it was a dream come true. Check out my brother's original song with fellow warrior Sean Carlo (I sat in on drums)
Did you know Build-A-Bear does Philanthroparties already? They don't call them that, but it's exactly what they are! Check out how your next trip to Build-A-Bear can help a child in need. Click here! I am so honored to be chosen as a 2012 Build-A-Bear Huggable Hero. There's not another company out there that does more to support youth activists. They're awarding an academic scholarship and donating $2,500 to a charity of my choice. I'm going with Blood:Water Mission and Katie's Krops. I'm off to Memphis to meet the other winners and work at St. Judes Children's Hospital for the day, then to St. Louis for the ceremony.
This is the video I made that helped me win the contest. Thank you Build-A-Bear!
This philanthroparty combined our our love of music with my passion to raise awareness for those without access to clean water. To celebrate my bandmate's birthdays, we planned a Back Yard Concert complete with a signature Pucker Face Contest and a Dirty Water Dare. I collected water from our local water source, like the girls in Africa do. It was disgusting and smelly even after it was purified and tested safe (which is not an option in Africa). We dared each other to drink these nasty "Swamp-tinis" and gained appreciation for the privilege of clean water. Our band performed for the party guests, but the highlight was an appearance by The Good Mad, who donated their time to perform for our cause and helped us raise $1300.00.
I even got to play drums with The Good Mad!
My band mate, Collin at the Pucker Face Contest above.
And would you drink this Swamp-tini?
Using Causes.com doubled my donations from last year's Water:Walk. They just featured my PhilanthroParty campaign on their blog! Read it here, then ask me how I can turn your next event or birthday into a Party With a Purpose!
WELL:Done!! Lemon:AID Warriors Water:Walk 2012 surpassed my goal by far. After a mile of walking with jugs and signs, getting stores along the way to sell Lemon:AID for us, and throwing an amazing birthday philanthropy, we ended up raising $6,300 and counting. Thank you to my Lemon:AID warriors who walked beside me, to the donors who gave, and to businesses who sold Lemon:AID all weekend. Hundreds of our friends in Africa will have clean water for generations.
CBS and KCAL news covered the walk. Check it out!
The LemonAID Warriors Water:Walk is back! Last year, my 6th grade class walked down bustling streets in a popular Los Angeles neighborhood, carrying jugs of water and signs to raise awareness for the water crisis in Africa. Afterwards, two of my friends and I threw a joint birthday party where we asked for $20 donations instead of birthday gifts. We also participated in LemonAID Week, where stores that we walked by sold lemon themed items and donated the proceeds to LemonAID Warriors, or just made a flat donation. We ended up raising $4,000 and funding a well in Africa. On Friday the 4th, we are holding our second annual Water:Walk. This year, we have a donation page. So far, we have around $3,650 and counting, prior to the actual Water:Walk event. We are going to surpass our goal of $4,000 this year, and I can't wait to see the final results! Donate here.
Here is the video from last year:
This is my Three Dot Dash family. (thats Morse code for Peace). I was chosen to be one of the 30 Global Teen Leaders to go to NY for one amazing week. We heard speakers and did activities from leaders in all different industries to learn how to expand our boundaries and take our organizations to the next level. It was seriously life changing. I learned so much about how to present myself and my organization, as well as learning about film, photography, social media, branding, creativity, how to speak in an interview, and so much more. I gained so much more confidence in myself and in LemonAID Warriors. Best part...meeting 30 outstanding teenage leaders from all over the world who will be my global family forever. Click here to learn more about the summit.
I met Anna at the Just Peace Summit in New York, hosted by the We Are Family Foundation. Anna started an organization called My Dream City that takes her passion for art and her love of children to bring joy and art education to Russian orphans. Here is my interview with the amazing Anna!
My little brother Jasper, along with his two friends Emily and Sylvie, threw a triple-philantrhoparty birthday. They invited their whole 4th grade class to Sky Hight where the walls and floors are completley made out of trampolines! Instead of presents, all 3 kids asked for donations. Emily and Jasper's donation's benefited Blood:Water Mission, while the money that Sylvie collected went to World Wildlife Foundation. Along with having a great time, they collected over $1,000.00 We all ended up jumping for joy (get it?)
Lulu is represented by a literary agent, Clelia Gore. For inquiries, please contact Clelia at clelia@martinliterarymanagement.com