AZ Lemonade Stand Donates Lemonade to the Rally Foundation’s Utah Trunk or Treat

180 jars of lemonade, a parking lot full of costumes, and two hours. The jars didn’t last.

On October 24, we donated 180 of our 32 oz mason jars to the Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research for its Trunk or Treat in Draper, Utah. The afternoon brought together Rally families and several community partners, with somewhere between 300 and 400 people stopping by from 2 to 4 p.m. For a lot of these kids, a safe, low-key Halloween with other families who get it means more than the candy does. Here’s why we showed up, what the Rally Foundation does with the support it gets, and how your event or business can work with us next.

Who the Rally Foundation Is

The Rally Foundation is a national nonprofit that funds pediatric cancer research. Its goal is better treatments for kids, with fewer long-term side effects, and eventually cures.

Childhood cancer research gets a small share of funding

Every day, 47 children in the United States are diagnosed with cancer. It’s the leading disease-related cause of death in kids, yet pediatric research receives only a small fraction of National Institutes of Health funding. Rally steps into that gap by awarding grants to the highest-scoring proposals after a peer review by its Medical Advisory Board.

The results are real

Rally-funded research has helped advance eight FDA-approved drugs, along with active clinical trials and new diagnostic tests. The foundation also directs 93 cents of every dollar to its mission. You can read about the studies it funds on the Rally-funded research page.

Support for Rally goes to research and to families, not overhead.

Rally West and the Families It Serves

The Utah connection comes from Rally West, a regional office that opened in 2023 and is based in Sandy, just up the road from Draper. It serves families across Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Colorado and Montana.

Help that shows up during treatment

A lot of Mountain West families travel long distances for their child’s care, often far from friends and relatives. Rally West runs Rally Good Meals, delivers snacks and comfort items to pediatric oncology units, hosts family events like this Trunk or Treat and offers emergency financial help. You can learn more on the Rally West page.

Local businesses keep it going

Rally West leans on community partners to fund this work. Companies like Larry H. Miller Dealerships, Merit Medical and Shake Shack already support it, and we were proud to add our jars to the table.

Why We Said Yes

We started AZ Lemonade Stand as two longtime friends making lemonade in Phoenix. Today our jars are in more than 1,000 Arizona locations and moving into stores across the West. As we grow into new communities, we want to show up for the people in them, not just sell to them.

Childhood cancer is one of those causes where you don’t need a long explanation. A kid shouldn’t have to spend Halloween in a hospital room, and when they’re well enough to trick-or-treat, the day should feel easy. A cold jar of lemonade in hand is a small part of that, and an easy one for us to give.

Why jars work so well at events

Event organizers don’t always think about the logistics of drinks until the day of. Our lemonade happens to solve most of them.

• Each batch is brought to a boil and hot-filled into mason jars, which gives it shelf stability for the trip from Phoenix to Utah
• Single-serve jars mean no pouring station, no cups and no line
• Sealed jars are easy for parents to grab and carry while kids run from trunk to trunk
• Guests take the jar home, so your event leaves a little reminder behind

Tips for Planning a Charity Event With Donated Drinks

We get a lot of donation requests, and the ones that go smoothly have a few things in common.

Reach out early

Most brands set aside donation inventory weeks ahead. A request that arrives a few days before the event is much harder to fill.

Share your numbers

Tell the brand your expected headcount, who’s attending and what the event supports. A range like “300 to 400 people, mostly families” helps us send the right amount.

Offer something back

A sponsor sign, a social media tag or a mention from the stage costs you nothing and makes it easier for a business to say yes again next year.

Bring AZ Lemonade Stand to Your Next Event

If you’re running a fundraiser, festival or community event, we’d love to hear about it. Tell us what you’re planning through our sponsorship page or send a note through the contact form on our homepage. Retailers and distributors can reach us through our wholesale order form.

And if this story moved you, go straight to the source. You can donate to the Rally Foundation or find ways to volunteer and fundraise on their Get Involved page.

A big thank you to the Rally West team and every family who came out in costume. We’ll bring more jars next year.