Vincent Smith School Students

Raise Plenty of Pennies for Patients

A lot of students across Long Island have participated in the Pennies for Patients fundraising drive, but the students in the Pay it Forward Club at Vincent Smith School have found a great way to tie it into the curriculum.

One of the school’s major initiatives is teaching and reinforcing the six pillars of character development - trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and good citizenship - with a special emphasis on respect. Staff agreed to focus on interdisciplinary lessons that allow these pillars to stay at the forefront of lessons learned.

The Pay it Forward Club has encouraged all of its schoolmates to step up to the challenge of helping those less fortunate than themselves. During Week 1, classes worked to fill up their fundraising containers as many times as possible to show they care and to be good citizens in the Long Island community. During Week 2, math classes were employed to help figure out totals during Sabotage Time. This week represented a penny war, where the goal was to have more pennies in the collection canisters than any other coin. Silver coins were actually deducted from the total based on an established point system. However, the coins were still given to charity. Week 3 rounded out the fundraising event with a contest to see which class could raise the most money by the end of the week.

During the course of the event, the Pay it Forward Club found several ways to make fundraising for Leukemia/Lymphoma research a fun and profitable thing to do. Members hosted a 50/50 raffle; they sold paper pennies which were hung in the high school lobby; there was a M&M count jar that provided a gift certificate to the person who had the closest guess; and students were able to buy their way out of uniform for a day, by donating $2 to wear their favorite sports jersey to school.

The school’s 78 students met their goal of $1,500 while having a good time. Various classes enjoyed the fruits of their labor with an ice cream party, pizza party, cookie party, and a Chinese luncheon.

“This is an annual event that allows our students to have a good time while raising money for much-needed research,” said Laura Palme, VSS teacher and Pay It Forward Club advisor. “They enjoy the school events and are proud to help find a cure.”

Caption: Vincent Smith School Pay It Forward club member and club advisor Laura Palme prepared baskets for patients at local hospitals.