Celebrating 25 Years of LemonAID Fund: A Legacy in Stories
This year marks a milestone, 25 years since LemonAID Fund began its journey of transforming lemons into lemonade across the globe.
To honor this anniversary, we’re launching a special series of reflections that spotlight the people, moments, and meaning behind our work. From the handmade lemon that became our symbol of human connection, to the grassroots leaders and survivors who have shaped our mission, this series will share the untold stories that define our legacy.
We begin with a look back at how a single piece of heartfelt advice in a Tuscan village gave birth not only to a logo, but to a philosophy that has quietly guided LemonAID Fund since the very beginning.
Because LemonAID Fund has never been just about aid. It has been about the dignity of doing things differently, of showing up with empathy, listening deeply, and offering support that honors the complexity of people’s lives. We were founded on the belief that no act is too small to matter, and that transformation, real, lasting transformation, comes through relationships built on trust, respect, and love.
Over the past two and a half decades, we’ve responded to war, natural disasters, disease outbreaks, and entrenched cycles of poverty, not with one-size-fits-all solutions, but by partnering with individuals who know their communities best. We’ve walked alongside survivors, social workers, teachers, and local leaders, offering tools that help people move from trauma to strength, from despair to possibility. From Sierra Leone to South Dakota, from Colombia to Cambodia, our work has echoed a single truth: when people are met with care and respect, healing is possible.
Central to this healing is the Forgiveness, Gratitude, and Appreciation (FGA) framework, a program we’ve developed over decades that offers concrete, evidence-based tools to help individuals release trauma, reduce stress, and build lasting resilience. Whether it’s a war widow in West Africa or a teacher in Latin America, FGA meets people where they are, and empowers them to reclaim their well-being, one breath, one story, one moment at a time.
This 25-year journey has been woven together by countless quiet acts of courage, by grassroots changemakers, by young girls going to school for the first time, by communities choosing peace after generations of violence, and by our supporters, who believed in this mission before the world was watching.
And yes, it was also shaped by a handmade lemon—one that captured our commitment to the personal, the heartfelt, the human.
As we begin this anniversary series, we invite you to travel back through time with us. In each post, you’ll meet the people and the stories that have defined LemonAid Fund’s path, stories that remind us what it means to build something that lasts, not just in infrastructure, but in hearts, minds, and lives.
This is our legacy. And it’s only just beginning.
Stay tuned for Part Two, where we’ll share the origins of our iconic hand-drawn lemon and how it continues to embody the values at the heart of everything we do.
Dr. Nancy Peddle Creating Strategy for LemonAID