About Us
The Lemon Aide Society is a non-profit service organization helping young girls become confidents leaders. Our mission is to inspire the next generation of female leaders to make a sustainable difference in their community and the world through mentorship, empowerment, service, and leadership. Our unique and innovative programs combine service projects with confidence and leadership building activities. The Lemon Aide Society gives girls the opportunity and tools to advocate for themselves, work collectively, build relationships, and give back to their community. While our organization is based in Dallas, we have expanded many of our programs and opportunities to other areas of the country, such as Florida, Georgia, and Colorado.
What makes us different?
Unique to the Lemon Aide Society is our tiered mentorship program. Supported by research and experience, positive female mentorship fosters independent and confident women. This is a core element of all of our programs — young girls are mentored by their older female peers, who empower them and help them grow into confident leaders. In our school program, we have found that female teachers and administrators are in a unique position to serve as mentors to their students. In our monthly program, our girls are guided through the program by Teen Mentors, who themselves are guided by Adult Mentors. Often, these Teen and Adult Mentors were once Lemon Aides themselves, who grew through our program and chose to mentor their younger peers when they got older.
Lemon Aides
Lemon Aides are girls in 2nd-12th grade who have a desire to learn about themselves, their communities and how they can make a difference in the world. Groups are divided into small grade-level chapters that meet monthly. Lemon Aides rotate as project or co-project leaders each month. The role of a project leader is to gain on-the-job experience by planning and organizing service projects, leading the monthly meeting and implementing their project.
Teen Mentors
Teen Mentors are young women in grades 10-12 who embody the Lemon Aide Society’s core beliefs. Teen Mentors take a leadership role by working side-by-side with our Lemon Aides, empowering and guiding them through the process. Teen Mentors attend monthly meetings, as well as help run mentoring sessions for our Lemon Aide project leaders. Teen Mentors continue to become independent, confident and capable leaders guided by an Adult Mentor.
Adult Mentors
Adult Mentors are female leaders who have experience working with girls and want to empower others to reach their full potential. They embody the Lemon Aide Society’s core beliefs and recognize that their influence can change the trajectory of a girl's life. Adult Mentors focus on relationship building and offering guidance and support as our Lemon Aides and Teen Mentors learn about themselves, their community, and how they can make a difference in the world.
What skills do our girls develop?
Public speaking — Every time a girl leads a service project, she prepares a presentation for the project. As part of her leadership training, she will write and rehearse a short presentation, and our mentors help them feel confident in presenting their speech to not only their friends and family, but to members of organizations we partner with as well.
Presentation building — Girls will learn how to build effective slideshow presentations to share information with their group about the project they’ll be doing and the agency they’ll be serving.
Leadership — Our goal is to help every girl grow into a strong and confident leader. They learn how to take charge of a group, guide others through activities, while also developing core leadership skills such as communication, compassion, and collaboration.
Advocacy — As girls grow through our program and begin to develop their own leadership identity, our curriculum gives them more autonomy to follow their own paths and choose service projects that align with their passions and interests. By helping our girls find causes that are meaningful to them, we are promoting in them a desire to serve and help others in the community.
Community-mindedness — Our programming focuses on working with local organizations and places that help our surrounding community. Girls get to go “out in the field“ through on-site projects, which put them face-to-face with community members and allow them to see the tangible impact they’re making on people.
Project planning — As our girls get older, their responsibility over a service project grows. Girls learn how to see their project from start to finish — researching causes they feel connected to, communicating directly with organizations, conducting outreach and fundraising efforts, and implementing their project.
What do we offer?
We offer a variety of programs for girls to get involved in where they can grow to be community-minded, service-oriented, confident leaders. Some of our opportunities, such as Camp Lemon Aide and Gaga’s Butterflies, can be low-commitment one-time options, while our school and monthly programs are for girls who want to commit to being involved in the organization for the school year. We also have other volunteer opportunities listed on our Volunteer page.
Monthly Program
Our monthly program runs during the school year for girls in grades 2-12. Girls are divided into groups by grade, and will meet with their group once a month to complete a service project that they have planned under the guidance of their mentors. As girls grow through our program, they will learn to have more autonomy and control over their projects. This program teaches young girls leadership, empowerment, and how to make a sustainable difference in their community.
School Program
Lemon Aide in the Schools (LASIS) is a free, weekly afterschool program for girls in grades 3-6. By collaborating with at-risk schools, we are able to effectively reach girls who may otherwise not have the opportunity to participate in a female empowerment and mentorship program. Our vision is for every girl to have the self-confidence, self-esteem, and life skills to reach their full potential and give back to future generations of female leaders.
Camp Program
Camp Lemon Aide runs 2 one-week camp sessions each summer. Join us as we spend the week doing art and STEM projects, playing games, making snacks, and most importantly, spreading our Lemon Aide sunshine as we engage in meaningful service projects! We will conclude our session with a community service project that we plan ourselves over the course of the camp week. Girls in grades 2-6 can be campers, and older girls can volunteer as counselors (10th-12th) or CITs (7th-9th)!
Gaga’s Butterflies
Come celebrate seniors’ birthdays with us at Legacy Midtown Park! Macy Gutow, one of our Teen Mentors, created this program in honor of her grandmother. One weekend each month, she will lead two volunteer opportunities — one on Saturday to bake and get ready for the celebration, and one on Sunday helping celebrate at Legacy. There is no commitment to participate in this project; girls will have the opportunity to sign up the month before if they want to help.