Curing Cancer One Cup At A Time

CHARLESTON — Some people spend their lives searching for their calling.

At 7, Aidan Roff may have found his.

Earlier this year Aidan and the entire community found themselves dealing with the tragic death of a fellow student, 11-year-old Harper Drolet, from a rare form of soft tissue cancer. 

"We prayed for them a lot and spent a lot of time thinking about them and talking about things when she was sick," said Aidan's mom Zoe Roff said.

However even Roff was shocked when the day after learning of Harper's death, Aidan told his mom he wanted to raise money for cancer research with a lemonade stand.

"When he first said it, I thought 'Awesome!' He's only 7 and he likes money, so for him to want to give it to something that I care about too, I just wanted him to be successful, to feel the benefits of being selfless," Roff said.

She hopes it is something that Aidan will carry with him for the rest of his life, and the best part is that it is something he came up with on his own, she added.

"(Harper Drolet) was always happy, even when she was really sick she was happy," Aidan said.

Ask him why he chose to raise money with a lemonade stand and Aidan will say it's just someting he's good at.

His mom explains that he had set up a lemonade stand at the house a few times before Harper died as a way to make a little extra spending money for himself.

After Roff got over the initial excitment of seeing her son want to help children — the funds he's been raising with his "Lemonade Stand Against Pediatric Cancer" since Harper's death are directed to pediatric cancer research at MUSC — she worried that he would be discouraged if his efforts weren't successful.

"There are only about 10 houses on our block, and I didn't think it would be too successful if we did it at home, so we looked into getting a permit for a park downtown or something like that and it was very expensive," Roff said.

Discouraged by the cost involved in getting a permit to set up at a park, Roff turned to local business owner Christine Osborne of , a store that specializes in educational toys and games and has been open in St. Andrew's Shopping Center in West Ashley for 23 years. The business has been involved with numerous charities, nonprofit organizations and service projects for years, including serving as a drop off location for Toys for Tots.

"I knew Wonder Works had been involved with Harper and had helped her do a service project, so I thought they may be interested in letting Aidan come and set up there."

"As soon as I talked to Christine she was more than interested," Roff added.

"Harper had been a big part of our Wonder Works family," Osborne said.

Osborne agreed to host Aidan's first "Lemonade Stand Against Pediatric Cancer" on Oct. 15. That day Aidan collected more than $1,275. One person dropped a $1,000 check in Aidan's donation bucket, and many others gave $5, $10 or $20 for the 50-cent cups of lemonade he was selling.

"It's a great example of what one person can do for both kids and adults," Osborne said. "It's an example of just open your heart and do it, and don't let any adult tell you you can't."

Osborne said she is happy to help Aidan with his project, and she sees Harper's legacy in it. Before her death, Harper devoted a lot of her time to service projects of her own, Osborne said, including collecting about 10,000 toys for MUSC's Happy Wheels program and working with the Livestock and Equine Awareness are Rescue Netowork.

"So she went from saving children to saving animals," Osborne said. "That aura, that person that she was made a huge difference for me, for people who knew her, for her classmates, she shared that love of doing for others with them."

Aidan hasn't done it alone either.

So far he's set up a handful of Stands Against Pediatric Cancer at both the West Ashley and Mount Pleasant Wonder Works locations and at several rehearsals for the Charleston Youth Orchestra, and about a dozen volunteers including several kids his own age have helped out by taking shifts running the lemonade stand at the events.

But he's nowhere near finished. Aidan said he plans to continue setting up Lemonade Stands Against Pediatric Cancer anywhere he can.

"I just hope to raise enough money to cure cancer," he said.