ShawneeDispatch.com

At the Shawnee Hy-Vee at 65th and Quivira Friday, twins Keith and Kyle Chadwick were helping out at an unusual lemonade stand.

For one thing, rather than standing out in the hot sun, the two were in the refrigerated meats section of the grocery store. For another, no lemonade-stand workers had ever tried to sell their product with more determination.

The Bonner Springs residents and future sixth-graders at Sacred Heart Catholic School in Shawnee were selling the lemonade to raise money for children's cancer research through Alex's Lemonade Stand, a fund-raising effort created by a little girl from Connecticut who had neuroblastoma.

The twins knew how important it was to raise money not only because they learned that Alex lost her battle with cancer last summer; they had their own experience with the disease. At 6 years old, Kyle was diagnosed with acute lumphocytic leukemia.

Lemonade stands for the charitable organization were set up over the weekend at Hy-Vee stores all over the area, including both Shawnee locations, with the goal of raising $50,000.

Though he has been in remission since November of 2003, Kyle had to be careful not to sell too hard; years of chemotherapy have lead to some nerve problems in his legs, so he can't stand for too long, a condition called reflex sympathetic dystrophy.

"There are just lingering problems that he has after three years of poison," his mother, Sheryl Chadwick, explained.

But Keith had his sales pitch down pat, and he worked overtime whenever his brother needed to take a rest, approaching Hy-Vee shoppers with no fear to ask for donations in exchange for a cup of lemonade.

"He loves to go out and do the PR stuff, do the events," Sheryl Chadwick said. "And the great thing is he understands the meaning behind it."

"I'm very social," Keith said with a grin, describing his motives behind his enthusiastic sales pitch.

Even when shoppers turned him down, Keith could not be deterred. He said he understood that some people might be let down when potential donors said they didn't want to make a contribution.

"But still, at least you asked them," Keith said.

At the Hy-Vee at 63rd and Pflumm, Shawnee resident Stacey Bienhoff, her sons, Tyler and Brandon Bienhoff, and her nephew, Connor Schultz, worked just as hard to raise money at their lemonade stand.

Bienhoff and her sons had raised money for Alex's Lemonade Stand last year, as well, when the first stand was set up at a Blue Springs, Mo., Hy-Vee. That stand raised more than $5,000, and more awareness of this year's stands seemed to be helping last weekend.

"People are being really generous," Bienhoff said of Friday's efforts. "They've come in and said they saw it on the news or in the paper."

The Kansas City stands ultimately fell short of their goal but were able to raise $27,830 over the weekend. Jeanne Siebert, coordinator of Keith and Kyle's stand, said every little bit helps for the 12,000 children diagnosed with cancer each year.

"Children's bodies are growing and changing so much, it's just so hard to determine how much chemotherapy to give them," Siebert said. "Research is needed to help doctors determine the best protocol for each child."