Every year during the Chicago Pride Parade, as crowds pour off the Diversey Brown Line stop and head toward Halsted for the parade, two familiar faces are waiting with cups of lemonade and trays of homemade lemon bars.
Nora and Levi Lerner have spent nearly a decade greeting paradegoers from their family-run lemonade stand, where every dollar raised goes to Howard Brown Health. The tradition started nine years ago.
“We’d always walk by Howard Brown and ask our mom what the organization does, and it really struck us to learn more about it,” said Nora, 17. “The Pride Parade always passes by our house, so we thought it would be cool to use it to raise money for Howard Brown Health.
The connection runs even deeper for the family. Their grandfather, Dr. Steve Lerner, trained at Howard Brown during medical school in the ’70s.
“He was on the faculty at the University of Chicago and would work at Howard Brown Health Center every week for about a year,” said their father, Dan Lerner. “He couldn’t be prouder that they’re kind of carrying on a family legacy.”
Over the years, the siblings’ lemonade stand has raised more than $2,000 for Howard Brown, the Chicago-based health center that provides affirming care and community programs for LGBTQ+ people. The fundraiser has also become a familiar and joyful part of the parade route.
“It’s just such a positive experience,” said Levi, 14. “As people come by to the lemonade stand, you can see how much it improves their day to be able to support Howard Brown and make a difference.”
Each year, the siblings set up a small table near their block by the Diversey stop, catching the steady stream of parade traffic.
“We have lemonade, and I bake a big batch of lemon bars every year,” Nora said. “We’ll wave them down and tell them that it’s all for Howard Brown. Usually we’ll get to have really cool conversations with people. It’s so colorful and wonderful. It’s my favorite part of the summer every year.”
Many visitors make it a point to come back year after year.
“Lots of people that keep coming to the Pride Parade actually come back to me and say they remember me from previous years,” Levi said. “It’s just such a positive experience, just taking the cart down the corner and selling to them.”
That joy carries through when the family delivers their donations to Howard Brown.
“It just reinforces the importance of what we’re doing,” Nora said. “The warmth coming from the people working there … it’s just amazing every year to come back and bring the whole bag of cash.”
For the Lerners, the lemonade stand has always been about more than the money raised.
“Supporting people can really just improve lives,” Levi said. “You can see how much it improves their day to be able to support Howard Brown and make a difference.”