Five Hills royalty raise money for chosen charities

Special to the Leader-Press

Nine-year-old Briana Liles could feel sorry for herself for the bald patches on her head that she works to cover. Instead, the once-shy Copperas Cove queen is raising funds to find a cure and is finding a very sweet way to do it.
Liles, the reigning Pre-Teen Miss Five Hills, was one of only 15 children selected to participate in the Fort Hood Area Best Tasting Lemonade Contest. With the support of the staff of Heights Lumber who learned that Liles suffered from alopecia, the autoimmune disease that causes baldness, the petite third grader and her dad built a bright pink lemonade stand while she and her mom created the perfect recipe she called, Miss B’s Bountiful Berry Lemonade. Liles shared more than just her secret recipe when each of the six judges visited her stand to try her lemonade.
“My favorite part was telling people what alopecia is because lots of people didn’t even know,” Liles said. “I loved seeing all the other kids’ stands. But most of all, I loved people complimenting my own stand because we worked really hard on it.”
Liles’ said it was a fun experience for her first time and she learned a lot, and she may not have won, but she tried hard and was honored to be there.  Liles will have her lemonade stand set up at Heights Lumber on Saturday and Copperas Cove Walmart on Sunday.  All of her proceeds will be donated to send children who suffer from alopecia to a camp so they know they are not alone, Liles said. 
Teen Miss Five Hills Carleigh Ross tripled her fundraising goal for her chosen charity for her platform of service, Cancer Fundraising and Awareness, in memory of her grandfather who died from leukemia. Being crowned only a month prior to the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, Ross set a stretch goal of $1,000 for the royalty, many of whom she was meeting for the first time. Serving as the team captain, she encouraged each titleholder to become a member of the team, set a goal and raise funds. Ross also had designed her own royalty t-shirt which she sold to benefit the Relay team as well as selling rhinestone ribbon pins and hosting the inaugural Relay Pageant. Ross’s Crowns for a Cure team raised more than $1,500.
“My team had only one month to raise funds for this year’s relay, and exceeded our goal by a landslide. They spent hours walking and fundraising at the event to support my platform of service, putting their best foot forward for me,” Ross said. “I know that my grandpa would’ve been proud and that means the world to me.”
The Five Hills royalty have a busy week ahead with Liles hosting a fundraiser at Raising Cane’s Wednesday evening. The titleholders will also attend the III Corps Lemonade Day ribbon cutting on Friday and then visit all of the Lemonade Day stands that are plotted on the Lemonade Day map on Saturday to purchase lemonade for all of the children. They will also attend Frames & Things Art After Dark on Friday.