By Julia Clare
When Chase Worthington, 5, and his family were planning his lemonade stand in August 2012, they talked at length about what to do with the earnings from his first business venture. He wanted to give half of the lemonade and cookie sales to charity, and his main criteria was to “choose a place that helped kids.” By researching local children’s organizations, Chase and his parents learned about A Better Way’s services to foster and adoptive families in Berkeley and the Bay Area. This sounded like a good match for Chase’s first philanthropic investment.
The lemonade stand, held on a warm late-summer afternoon in Berkeley, was wildly successful. Chase and his family made fresh-squeezed lemonade out of dozens of lemons donated by neighbors and baked six dozen cookies. Friends and neighbors came out in droves to support the endeavor, and Chase was unable to meet all of the demand. Hwas sold out in less than two hours. In the end, Chase’s stand brought in a total of $54, half of which would be donated to A Better Way, making Chase the youngest donor to the organization to date.
On Wednesday, October 24, Chase visited A Better Way for the first time, accompanied by his parents, Jennifer and Kurt Worthington. He met with Shahnaz Mazandarani, A Better Way’s president and CEO, and Sharon Wright, a member of the board of directors, in addition to other staff members. Chase presented his donation to Mazandarani, and received a Certificate of Appreciation for his charitable work. A high point of the visit was exploring and trying out some of the toys in the visitation rooms that A Better Way clinicians use to visit with young clients.
Mazandarani founded A Better Way 16 years ago. The Berkeley-based agency provides numerous family services, including therapy, adoption services, and assessment and therapeutic services to foster children.
Visit A Better Way to learn more about its programs and services, or call (510) 601-0203.
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