Boyertown Rita’s raises $22,000 for cause

Residents of Boyertown are willing to help out towards a great cause, even when asked to shave their heads.

The Rita’s Water Ice in Boyertown recently hosted its seventh annual hair-shaving event to raise money for Alex’s Lemonade Stand. Community members attended the event to show their support and also to honor those that have lost their battle to cancer.

Rita’s has been fundraising throughout the entire month of June.

The event was created to honor the children who lose their hair while battling cancer. The total amount of money raised from the hair-shaving event was $2300.

The total amount raised for Alex’s as of June 30 is $22,311.

Some of the other ways that the store has raised money was by having a Zumbathon at Twin Ponds Golf Course in Gilbertsville, selling their famous paper lemons at the store, and from various donations by customers.

The biggest money raiser was Rita’s “Help Us Change Cancer” program. Rita’s gave out small cups to all the school children in five of the elementary schools in the Boyertown area school district. The children brought the cups back filled with spare change and the total from those came to over $11,000.

“The community response is incredible. We’re doing this one dollar at a time,” according to co-owner Parrish Stauffer.

The hair shaving event is a signature one for this particular Rita’s. While selling the paper lemons to benefit the Alex’s Lemonade Stand was a decision made by the corporation, the hair shaving was a fundraiser conceived entirely by the owners of the Boyertown Rita’s.

Because of this, the Boyertown Rita’s has been the top fundraiser of all the Rita’s stores for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation and the entire Rita’s corporation is the top donator to Alex’s Lemonade.