Fresno family plans lemonade stand fundraiser for childhood cancer research

A Fresno family will turn the loss of Henry John Ables Rodriguez into a public show of support near the Tower District, where their third annual lemonade stand will raise money for childhood cancer research. Henry was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2022, two weeks after his first birthday, and died in September 2024 after a two-year fight that included multiple strokes and a brain bleed.

Henry’s 3rd Annual Lemonade Stand is scheduled for Sunday, June 28, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 660 E Floradora Ave in Fresno, near the family’s home. The fundraiser will benefit Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer, which funds pediatric cancer research and helps families dealing with the disease.

Taylor Abels and Daniel Rodriguez have built the event into a neighborhood effort with donated lemonade, cups, baked goods and support from a local taco truck that will share proceeds. Raising Cane’s is also donating lemonade, adding to the broad local backing the family has drawn since Henry’s first stand.

The family has raised about $84,000 over the past three years and hopes this year’s event will push the total above $100,000. The first stand brought in nearly $10,000, and the second annual event was held at the same Floradora Avenue address in 2025, showing how a small backyard effort has grown into a significant fundraiser for childhood cancer research.

The stakes are larger than one Fresno family. Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation says childhood cancer is the number one cause of death by disease for U.S. children, and about 15,000 children are diagnosed with cancer in the United States each year. The foundation, inspired by Alexandra “Alex” Scott, who started a lemonade stand in 2000, says it has raised more than $300 million, funded more than 1,500 research projects at nearly 150 institutions and supported more than 15,000 childhood cancer families.