Students learn that every penny counts

You see them everywhere, on the ground, unclaimed-discarded pennies. Students at the Solomon Schechter Academy, Howell, are learning a valuable lesson: pennies are important. They add up! This year the pennies contributed by Schechter students in preschool through eighth grade, from September to June, added up to $1,262.03. Sue Ebert, the third grade Schechter teacher who is in charge of the penny program, said this is the fourth year the whole school has participated in the annual "Pennies for Patients" program, a national school and youth program sponsored by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Ebert said, "The program has many benefits because it teaches students compassion and the value of helping others while working for a very worthy cause."

The mission of the program is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma along with a focus to improve the quality of life of the patients and their families.

The third-graders collected $294.15; first-graders, $231.81; and fifth- and sixth-graders, $172.92. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society contributed $50 toward pizza parties for three classes that collected the most money. Anonymous supporters of the program donated the rest of the money for the parties. In the four years the Solomon Schechter Academy students have been participating in Pennies for Patients, they have collected and donated a total of $5,304.66.