Today we’d like to introduce you to Brynne Rhodes.
Hi Brynne, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Thank you for inviting me to share my story! I am 14 and a student at Palos Verdes Intermediate School. I am a dedicated student, a cheerleader and I play lacrosse on a local club team. I am also committed to my personal passion and mission to end breast cancer before anyone my age has to face it!
My family has been impacted over and over by breast cancer. My mother faced it in 2015 and my cousin is in treatment now – they have completed treatment and are doing well. Both of my grandmothers and my aunt also faced the disease and my activism for this cause honors their memory. I am the youngest of 4 and our mother faced breast cancer when I was 6. I wanted to help my mother and other families facing breast cancer, so I decided to have a lemonade stand and turn it pink for breast cancer. I pledged to donate the proceeds to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation because I want to prevent and cure breast cancer. That is how the Pink Lemonade Stand Challenge, a national charity campaign aimed at ending breast cancer got started! I believe medical research will make a world without breast cancer possible.
My pink lemonade stand was held at a busy street corner in a beach town in NJ. People who stopped to support me were so encouraging and generous and it gave me the idea to try to inspire kids, families and communities everywhere to turn their lemonade stands pink to support breast cancer research – Iknew that together we could end breast cancer so no more families would have to face it!
Since then I have worked every day to inspire others to get involved in this mission! There have been pink lemonade stands in 37 states; collectively our pink lemonade stands and supporters nationwide have raised almost $150,000 for breast cancer research. NFL Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis supported the campaign in May of 2022 in honor of his mother Gladys who faced breast cancer. Amazing retailer and iconic fashion brand Vineyard Vines turned all their stores pink on Oct 15th, 2023 and shared pink lemonade at all retail store locations nationwide, Donations were accepted in all vineyard vines stores and 10% of sales on that day were donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Also, select Lilly Pulitzer Signature Stores on the East Coast held pink lemonade stands in stores this October and donated 10% of sales to the cause. In May of 2019, I was invited to share my story on the today show with Hoda & Jenna and reached millions of Americans with my call to action. We have also taken our story to cities nationwide with local news coverage and regional morning talk show features. Macy’s featured our campaign as part if their breast cancer research funding drive in October of 2019. Delta Airlines has also agreed to support the Pink Lemonade Stand Challenge and help us bring our campaign to the skies!My greatest hope is that first lady Jill Biden will invite us to make a pink lemonade stand on the white house lawn this October during breast cancer awareness month. All this and really, I am just getting started > I will not stop until breast cancer is stopped! I will keep working to inspire others to engage in efforts to support this cause so thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my mission with your audience!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Although millions of families care about breast cancer and have loved ones who have faced it, it is a challenge to motivate others to take action themselves and to spring into action to get involved. Not everyone is supportive and some of the other students at school have ridiculed my efforts and the campaign. It’s hard to get the word out to a wide audience – even after a national television appearance, it has not been easy to spread the word. Plus, during COVID our campaign was paralyzed and it has been tough to restart it.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am most proud that I was able to make a positive difference as a kid and the campaign is an opportunity to show other kids that they can have an impact too and do big things and help others.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success can take many forms. As if related to my mission, success looks like life without breast cancer – I would like to see an end to all cancers!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.PinkLemonadeStandChallenge.org
- Instagram: @pinklemonadestandchallengr
- Facebook: Pink Lemonade Stand Challenge
- Twitter: @plsc_bcrf
- TikTok: pinklemonadestand
