Brave For Benjamin Raises $23K For Student With Leukemia

GLEN ELLYN, IL — The summer of 2019 marked the fourth year that Brave for Benjamin held its lemonade stand to raise funds to help benefit the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation and the initiative has not lost its momentum. This year, Brave for Benjamin earned more than $23,000 to benefit the foundation in honor of Benjamin, a local boy who has been battling leukemia since 2015.

The lemonade stand was held alongside a blood drive at Benjamin Franklin Elementary School on Sept. 15. Blood transfusions have helped save Benjamin's life, the Brave for Benjamin Facebook page states.

"The Ben Franklin community has just come together and supported our family incredibly over the last four years," Jenny Burke, Benjamin's mother said in a YouTube video.

District 41 Board Vice President Jason Loebach said in the video that it was heartening to see everyone coming together at the elementary school. "What's exciting to me is just seeing what this family has done with the hand that their life has been dealt."

Since Benjamin's diagnosis, his family has raised more than $100,000 for the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation. The foundation helps fight and raise awareness about pediatric cancers. Rizzo himself is a survivor of leukemia.