The very first Pasta for Pennies fundraiser at Pennoyer Elementary School in Norridge raised $5,668 to reward the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
“I’m so proud of our Pennoyer students and families for taking the moment to come up along with currency to donate to this special cause,” said Melissa Tronco, of Harwood Heights, a second-grade teacher at Pennoyer.
“It took the entire school to be with each other to make this outstanding and generous donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society,” said Tronco, whose class raised $372.77.
Tronco partnered on Pasta for Pennies along with Jaclyn Pearson, a student council advisor and a Pennoyer second-grade teacher.
The two discussed the Pasta for Pennies tip last autumn and met along with a representative of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
During the week of Jan. 18, contents were distributed to students and families explaining the fundraiser.
Each student had a small box to collect cash and delivering it in to the classroom. On Feb. 2, Tronco and Pearson went to Parkway Bank on Cumberland Avenue, where the cash was counted. The Chicago branch bank waived its counting fee, Tronco said.
Both women said the cash was so massive they had to wheel it in a cart prior to placing it in the car.
“We could barely raise a bag together,” said Pearson, that added a Spirit Week activity promoting the message of “Modification for a Change.”
“I believe that not just did we improve cash and develop a Modification in the lives of the families that we were able to donate to, yet we produced a Modification within our school community which led to an very successful fundraiser,” Pearson said.
The classroom that raised the a lot of cash is obtaining a dish at the school given by Olive Garden of Lincolnwood. That first-put finisher was Kathryn Fricke’s fifth grade class, which raised $550.
“Overall, I am merely thrilled that as a school, we did so well,” said Fricke, that has actually 24 students in her class.
Pasta for Pennies helped to teach a message concerning health and wellness and caring for others, she said.
“I believe that [the students] realized that they cannot take their good health for granted,” Fricke said. “Lots of had experiences along with cancer and major ailment and they already know exactly how vital it was to making a change.”
Susan Miceli, that will certainly retire this year, will certainly end two decades of service in role of Pennoyer’s principal along with the hopes the pennies fundraiser will certainly keep on annually.
“This is a testament to the strength of our students and their families to suggestions others and that’s exactly what makes Pennoyer great,” Miceli said.
“Every person has actually been touched by this,” she said, of cancer.
Brad W. Voehringer, superintendent of Pennoyer School District 79, complimented the effort.
“I am rather proud of our students for their generosity,” Voehringer said. “It is yet yet another indicator of exactly what pleasant students we have actually right here at Pennoyer School.”
Isabella Ostian, 8, of Norwood Park Township, and Valentino Zagorscak, 8, of Harwood Heights, are second-graders that addressed the energy of a penny.
“We gave pennies to the individuals that have actually blood cancer so they might feel better,” Isabella said.
“A penny can easily conserve a great deal of children,” Valentino said.
The 430-student kindergarten through eighth-grade school will certainly obtain a banner for their efforts.
Karie Angell Luc is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
