Pennies for Patients Hits New High
By Tim Croft
Star News Editor
As one youngster at Port St. Joe Middle School explained, the competition became pretty stiff as the sand drained from the hourglass on the school's annual Pennies for Patients fund-raiser.
So intense, he said, that he scoured every inch of his house to bring in that extra penny, nickel or dime that might put his class over the top.
In the end, the entire school reached a new zenith as students raised $2,825.65, an average of $11.77 per child at the middle school.
"That is the most we've ever raised," said teacher Cathy Colbert, who annually organizes the fund-raising effort. "It was really wonderful. The kids really got into it and they did really well."
Pennies for Patients is an annual fund-raising effort for kids afflicted with a variety of cancer, but specifically in the case of Port St. Joe Middle School the diseases students are attacking are leukemia and lymphoma.
This year the students had a bit of visual inspiration.
A picture of Tyler Myatt, a Florida sixth-grader with leukemia, was taped to the office window throughout the fund-raising campaign, providing a reality check for more fortunate students going about collecting all those coins in all those jars.
"When they see that and hear what he has been through, kids can be pretty amazing," Colbert said.
The money collected at PSJMS this year will go into a special fund established to assist Tyler's family in defraying medical costs for his treatment.
The money is not just handed to the family, Colbert added, but is available for the family to draw upon when the medical bills begin to pile up.
The school's Student Government Association, which spearheads the fund-raising effort in each class, also sends a special shout-out of thanks to the folks at Vision Bank.
"They counted all those pennies, nickels and dimes," Colbert said with a laugh. "We really appreciate their help."
Hitting a record may present some pressure come next year, but Colbert and the happy faces on the faces of the SGA representatives last week indicated that they are more than up for the challenge.
"Sometimes they may not be as kind as they should be to each other," Colbert said. "But when they see and hear about a child who is sick and needs help, they are very compassionate."
