All they asked for was $1.
The third-, fourth- and fifth-graders from the Los Altos Christian Schools student council, upon reviewing solicitations from various charitable organizations, chose to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Pennies for Patients program. And they set a goal: $1 per elementary-level student for a total of $161.
The idea behind Pennies for Patients is to collect change accumulating in piggy banks, jars and wallets, with the thought that small amounts combine to make a difference.
To spread the word about the fundraiser, students invited a society representative to discuss the program at chapel and student council representatives visited each elementary class to speak and distributed collection boxes for the children to take home.
They didn’t have long to wait to meet the goal.
The students emptied their piggy banks and asked their parents and neighbors for change. Within days, they collected approximately $400, according to Dwin Graham, fifth-grade teacher and student council adviser. By the end of the week, they had raised $700, and middle school students joined the drive.
Graham then issued a challenge: Reach $1,000 and teachers Nico Roundy and Brad Burman would shave their heads. Donations continued to roll in. After three weeks, the students had collected $2,162.50, 80 percent of it in coins.
Their efforts paid off.
“And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for,” said Principal Susan Goff to her cheering students, as she introduced the shaving of Roundy’s and Burman’s heads.
Graham told the students that the two teachers had “agreed to this as an encouragement (to the students) to save Pennies for Patients,” and that their head-shaving was symbolic for those in treatment for cancer.
“It helps us to remember what we’re raising money for,” she said, noting that children with leukemia or lymphoma often lose their hair.
Roundy’s mother, Cherisse Thomas, a former hairdresser, began to buzz as students squealed and cameras flashed. Burman, sporting a baseball cap, sat down next. When Thomas removed his hat, the crowd went wild – he had taken Silly Bandz and attached them to clumps of his short blond hair.
Graham said the school decided not to stage competitions among the classes, but instead make the drive a schoolwide effort.
“This was a chance for the children overall to act Christlike without seeking reward,” she said. “We didn’t want them to (collect money) because they’d get something.”
When the students earned a pizza party from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for reaching their fundraising goal, they donated the party to other children, like those at the Ronald McDonald House.
The school is service oriented. Last year, Graham said, they started tying in Spirit Days with service, and students donated 400 stuffed toys to the Mountain View Police Department for holiday baskets. In April, students are collecting clothing for Hope Rehabilitative Services.
Cathy Fitzpatrick-Platt is a Los Altos Christian Schools parent.
