Potter Cup
Potter Cup “Kids Helping Kids” Potter Cup Raises Over $477,000 for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation
Rival Middle Schools Haverford and Paxon Hollow once again faced-off in heated competition for an Annual Potter Cup to benefit Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. Students and teachers alike participated in a pep rally before reveling in competitions between the wrestling teams and boys’ and girls’ basketball teams. “The Potter Cup” was then awarded to PAXON HOLLOW MS who won two out of three of the sporting competitions.
Along with the sports-related festivities, those in attendance had the opportunity to enjoy food, fun, games, and prizes for children of all ages and of course lemonade! In a show of solidarity to cancer fighters, a number of students and faculty members shaved their heads for donations to the cause. Guest speakers were Liz and Jay Scott, Alex’s parents and Co-Executive Directors of the Foundation.
The Potter Cup has raised over $551,000.00 for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF). ALSF emerged from the front yard lemonade stand of cancer patient Alexandra “Alex” Scott (1996-2004). At the age of 4, Alex announced that she wanted to hold a lemonade stand to raise money to help find a cure for all children with cancer. Since Alex held that first stand, the Foundation has evolved into a national fundraising movement. To date, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, a registered 501(c)3 charity, has raised more than $100 million toward fulfilling Alex’s dream of finding a cure, funding over 475 research projects nationally.
The Potter Cup has been recognized as a Top 100 Fundraiser by ALSF. The “Potter Cup” began as an event between two schools, from different districts, with the goal of increasing school spirit and an interest in the winter sports’ teams when Dennis Reardon was the Athletic Director at Paxon Hollow Middle School and Bill Booth, Athletic Director at Haverford Middle School came up with the story about a trophy (The Potter Cup) that had been lost for years, but had been found in the back of an old storage closet at Paxon Hollow. This trophy was given to the school that won the most events during the winter sports’ season. The schools wanted to play two basketball games and hold a wrestling match, but realized that they had to provide entertainment for the other students in attendance to keep them occupied. So an activities schedule was added to the event, complete with food and carnival games. The first ‘Potter Cup” was held at PHMS with about 400 students in attendance and raised about $3,000, which went into the schools’ activities fund.
WHY ALSF?
In the fall of 2004, a news story ran on a morning news show about a little girl from Lower Merion who had cancer and was raising money for a cure by selling lemonade. Although Alex had passed away, the charity formed by her parents to continue her work was a perfect fit for the event. It is because of the affiliation with ALSF that the attendance at the event quickly grew to more than 1,800 students, in addition to parents and staff. The amount of money raised also increased dramatically with $20,500 raised for ALSF the first year to $35,000 in 2015, culminating to over $477,000 raised for the Foundation over the past 12 years.
BENEFIT TO STUDENTS
From the very beginning, the Potter Cup emphasized to the students the need to develop a spirit of friendship, cooperation and good sportsmanship between two schools. The association with ALSF enhances this spirit and demonstrates the importance of working together to achieve a greater goal, thus the motto “Kids Helping Kids” emerged.
From Alex's Lemonade Stand: Get in the spirit by watching this video detailing how two rival middle schools came together to raise over $40,000 in 2013 to fight kids' cancer. In total, they've raised over $477,000 as part of The Potter Cup.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VfWTGYS-LI
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