Students and faculty joined forces with their loose change to raise over $500 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through a fundraiser called Pennies for Patients organized by the National Honor Society.

This fundraiser was a competition between students and faculty. Freshman, sophomores, juniors, seniors, and faculty had individual bottles that helped them see how much they had raised. For every penny donated the grade received a point, but for every nickel, dime, quarter, or dollar, they lost points.

Even though the juniors had the fullest bottle, they actually ended up losing. “The juniors had a lot of money collected, but they had a lot of dollars and higher coins values,” said Mr. Rob Epler, NHS adviser.

The fundraiser raised a total of $535. “It was a pretty good amount for only running the event for four days,” said Mr. Epler.

The faculty came through with the win, then sophomores, then seniors, then freshman, and juniors filling in the cellar position. “The faculty was able to win because they didn’t have as many negative points,” said Mr. Epler.

This fundraiser has been done twice before in the past, but not in the last three years. “I wanted to make sure there wasn’t a common basket in the middle of this. I feel that students are sometimes too pressured to donate,” said Mr. Epler.

NHS students helped with the fundraiser by counting money, being homeroom representatives to help support the event, and by watching the bottles fill with coins during lunch or in the morning. “It was cool to see all the money that our community made in coins. The art of competition really helped bring in a lot of money for a great organization,” said senior NHS member Julie Flannery.