NORTHAMPTON — Kaylee Newbanks’ fridge is full of lemonade, and attempting to finish the last of her remaining batch has proved challenging.

“I’m still drinking it,” Newbanks said of the leftovers from her lemonade stand last Saturday, when she sold drinks on Strong Avenue and raised over $300 for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Since then, the rising senior at Smith College has been “trying to get rid of” what’s left of the lemonade mixture, but her appetite for the sugary drink is waning.

Normally, having leftovers after an hourslong lemonade stand would mean the business venture was a bust, but in the case of Newbanks’ charitable stand, patrons were so eager to donate toward breast cancer research, they often neglected to try Newbanks’ recipe.

“I had a woman who came over and said a good friend of hers had passed away from breast cancer, and then she gave me all of the change that she had in her wallet,” Newbanks said. “That one really hit my heart.”

Cancer is unfortunately a family affair for Newbanks, whose grandmother developed breast cancer when her granddaughter was only a newborn. Years later, Newbanks’ mother would receive a diagnosis for thyroid cancer while the San Diego native was still in high school, prompting her to take a stand against the disease.

What started as a pink bandana worn during her high school field hockey games turned into Newbanks’ internship this summer with the Pink Lemonade Stand Challenge, a national fundraising campaign seeking a cure to breast cancer, one lemonade stand at a time.

Founder Kim Rhodes launched the movement in 2016 while undergoing breast cancer treatment, shortly after she had a double mastectomy. When Rhodes’ 6-year-old daughter wanted to host a lemonade stand, her mother had one stipulation.

“I said sure we can, but it has to be for charity,” said Rhodes, whose daughter agreed to sell pink lemonade in support of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. She was overwhelmed by the support her neighbors demonstrated while on vacation in New Jersey, donating $100 to the organization within just 30 minutes.

“People who stopped didn’t want to just give her money,” Rhodes recalled. “They also wanted to talk about people that they love who had faced breast cancer.”

Sharing personal experiences with the disease has become tradition for all Pink Lemonade Stands, which have spread across the country since their inception in 2016. Opening up about the struggles of cancer is “cathartic,” according to Rhodes, whose mother and grandmother both also had breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy.

“I always tell people I’m a survivor, not because I’m dying to talk about breast cancer, but because if it helps anybody, that makes me happy,” Rhodes said.

Her organization helps women fight the risk of breast cancer by reminding them to self-advocate, especially if they find a lump while performing a self breast exam, a practice that Newbanks says “should not be thought of as something potentially stressful.”

“We all want the doctor to say oh, you’re fine,” Rhodes said. “The truth is, you need to advocate for yourself and if you have a concern, go chase it down even if you’re wrong. That would be awesome to be wrong.”

Self-advocacy is particularly important among women, who are likely to have their concerns minimized or misdiagnosed by a health care provider, according to Newbanks.

“Women tend to be taken less seriously when advocating for their health in the doctor’s office,” Newbanks said. “They’re more likely to be dismissed than, say, a male patient.”

Developing a bond with a primary care provider can also lead to a more accurate diagnosis, said Dr. Nia Bailey, a Delaware-based radiation therapist who recently spoke with Kaylee and her team of interns.

“If you don’t have that patient provider relationship, it’s very hard because then you got to know the doctor, you got to get in, you got to schedule an appointment, all those things,” Dr. Bailey said. “Already having a relationship with the doctor sort of moves things along.”

Reaching a breast cancer diagnosis can be particularly challenging for young women, whose insurance typically does not cover the cost of a mammogram. Given her family history, Newbanks knows she could someday develop cancer, but focuses on maintaining healthy habits rather than worrying about any predisposition she has for the disease.

“It’s not something that gets in the way of my life or day-to-day life,” Newbanks said, adding that her concern is only “a thought in the back of [her] mind.”

For now, Newbanks is focused on continuing her internship with the Pink Lemonade Stand Challenge and hopes to orchestrate a partnership between the organization and Smith College Athletics in the fall. As for Rhodes, she has her eyes set on a new lemonade stand location: the White House.

“Jill Biden herself has been a long supporter of breast cancer causes,” Rhodes said. “We’d love to do it on the White House lawn during the Garden Tour.”

While the Pink Lemonade Stand Challenge waits on an invitation from the first lady, both Rhodes and Bailey are busy celebrating Newbanks’ fundraising efforts in Northampton.

“I’m really proud of Kaylee for getting out there and bringing awareness to the Pink Lemonade Stand,” Bailey said. “What that is doing is bringing awareness to breast cancer, which is huge.”

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