Meet Madison Stein of LemonAID Warriors

Today we’d like to introduce you to Madison Stein.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Madison. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
When I was six years old, I started volunteering at community service events hosted by a ten-year-old girl at my school, named Lulu Cerone. We did lemonade stands for different charitable causes we were passionate about, an annual Water Walk along Ventura Blvd to raise money to build sustainable clean water projects in developing countries, and hosted concert fundraisers.

At the end of the year, Lulu decided to expand and turned our group into an official organization. She asked me to be a founding member and Vice President. From then on, I was at her side and she mentored me in my own projects as we built up LemonAID Warriors together. Now, it is an award-winning, international youth activism charity. We have raised over $140,000.00 for global and local causes and inspired thousands of youth volunteer hours.

When Lulu went to college this year, she handed over the reigns to me and I am now President of LemonAID Warriors. I’m carrying on the work we started together and branching out in new directions. Most recently, I have been working to create LemonAID Warriors clubs in schools throughout LA.

Great, 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?
As a youth-run organization, our ambitions are not always taken seriously. Our actions are often dismissed as symbolic gestures. But children and young people are capable of accomplishing enormous tangible good! We can have a profound impact on our local, national and global communities. LemonAID Warriors works to give young people tools and support to carry out these aspirations. But ideally, our schools and our entire society would also be on board.

If my generation is to face the great challenges we are about to inherit, service needs to be a bigger part of our education. It’s a challenge to get schools and larger institutions to step it up and make service and volunteerism a bigger priority. I wish there were more opportunities to support the next generation of compassionate leaders. While we are the future, we need to start acting now, rather than waiting until it is too late.

Please tell us about LemonAID Warriors.
LemonAID Warriors is a youth activism organization that shares simple, realistic tools for children and teens to become effective agents of change in their communities. We recognize that kids and families are very busy, and it’s hard to imagine adding anything to our already crazy schedules. So our action plans aim to turn what is already on your calendar into opportunities to serve. We call this action plans “PhilanthroParties”.

Family gatherings, birthdays, holiday parties, sports team events, sleepovers and play-dates can be given a little twist to support a cause through raising funds, raising awareness or simply by spreading kindness. To help spread our message we have a website, school club curriculum (launching soon) and a book called PhilanthroParties!

We also have ongoing signature service projects that local kids can join in on. Currently, we are working to build an orphanage in Tijuana, provide scholarships to 50 children a year at our partner school in Zimbabwe, and host holiday parties at a local Domestic Violence shelter, among others.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite childhood memory is visiting my first Philanthroparty, a can carnival! To get in, you had to bring cans to donate to the food bank.

At the event, we played many games related to cans, like a can stacking game or “can-can competition”. It was the first time that I was able to see the impact that the youth can have on our community and the world. While I was only in Kindergarten, this passion for activism continues to guide my decisions in life to this day.

Contact Info:

• Website: Lemonaidwarriors.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: Lemonaidwarriors
• Facebook: Lemonaidwarriors
• Twitter: Lemonaidwarrior

Image Credit:
Monica Orozco, Renee Bowen

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