By THERESA HOGUE
Gazette-Times reporter
Wilson students collect coins for charity
Reaching enthusiastically into the bottom of a cut-open plastic milk jug, fifth-grader Madison Brant sifted her fingers through pennies, nickels and dimes until she grasped the crinkly edge of a dollar bill and fished it out.
“Omigosh!” she exclaimed.
Next to her, fourth-grader Bradley Crampton and fifth-grader Alexa Peters were making their own piles of crumpled bills, stacking them neatly and counting them carefully.
“Holy cow, a $20 bill!” Alexa said as the face of Andrew Jackson appeared.
Meanwhile, employees at the Benton County Schools Credit Union bustled back and forth, emptying the milk jugs into a coin counter and helping Wilson School Principal Gerry Kosanovic keep track of how much each classroom had collected.
The Wilson students were chosen at random from their classrooms by Kosanovic to take care of the official money count. This week, Wilson students have been competing against each other to see which classroom could collect the most money for the Foundation for Children With Cancer.
“Mostly it’s a service project,” Kosanovic explained as he checked teachers names off his list. “It lets students know there’s life outside the classroom.”
Wilson students were particularly interested in children with cancer because several children in the district have been diagnosed, most recently Jenessa Byers, a first-grade student at Mountain View Elementary. Byers is receiving chemotherapy at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland, and the money Wilson students raised will be channeled to the hospital through the Foundation for Children With Cancer.
This is the third major fund-raiser Wilson students have held over the past year and a half. Students previously raised money for tsunami victims and victims of Hurricane Katrina. Kosanovic said using gallon milk jugs, which were donated by Starbucks, is a particularly effective way of showing students how much they’ve gathered.
“It’s visual, and it prompted classroom discussion,” he said.
On Friday, almost half of Wilson students wore hats to school in a ‘Hats On Day’ celebration that allowed them to show their solidarity with patients going through chemotherapy, who often wear hats or scarves on their heads when they lose their hair during treatment.
Bradley’s hat was a wild orange and black, jester-type cap that he received for Christmas from his older sister.
“I’ve worn it to a Beaver game and to three OSU basketball games,” he said.
He was pleased with the amount of money his class raised for the penny drive.
“We did just as good as other classes,” he said.
Madison said her teacher reminded the students about the drive by writing it up on the board, and they had a final burst of generosity on the last day.
“I really feel bad for people going through cancer,” she said.
“We’ve got to do something about it,” Bradley said of supporting students with cancer, “just to help them.”
In total, Wilson students raised $578.90. The two top-earning classrooms, Laurel Driskill’s fifth-grade class and Russ Harris’s second-graders, will receive pizza parties when they return from spring break.
###
If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Renee Kirkiewicz call 314-843-9300 or email renee@childrenwithcancer.org.