Middle School students’ penny drive
raises over $15,000 for cancer institute
By:Sally Goldenberg
Extending help to cancer-stricken children, the Hillsborough Middle School’s Student Council recently donated more than $15,000 to the Institute for Children With Cancer and Blood Disorders last month.
"The Student Council kids hands down voted to raise the money for the institute," said Student Council adviser Debra Porowski.
Through a penny drive in March and a basketball tournament in June, the middle school students raised $15,826. The council presented an oversized facsimile check to the institute’s board of directors in December.
Incorporated in 1991, the institute is a volunteer nonprofit organization providing nonmedical services, such as tutoring, nutritional counseling and a new four-floor respite center for children being treated for cancer and other blood disorders in the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.
Ms. Porowski said a student on the Student Council wanted to donate funds to the institute after using its facilities during treatment there. Ms. Porowski declined to name of the student. More than 200 middle school children participated in the "Kids for Kids" basketball shootout, sponsored by the Student Council.
The penny drive, which the student council has held for eight years in the name of other charities, typically raises under $4,000, she said. This year’s drive raised $6,000, she said.
Robert Brown, secretary of the institute’s board of directors, said Hillsborough’s donation was the second monetary contribution from New Jersey students, following a fund-raiser held in North Hunterdon’s district two years ago. The events raised similar amounts, he said.
Mr. Brown, whose daughters participated in the middle school’s efforts last year, said the money will fund the respite center, called the Martin Stein House of Hope. The center, which opened nearly two years ago, provides a place for patients’ families to stay during long treatments. With a laundry room, kitchen and sleeping accommodations, Mr. Brown said families can almost live in the center during treatments.
"The money is something that directly touches the kids," Mr. Brown said.
He added that several students from Hillsborough have used the institute over the past decade.
"There is a local kind of touch," he said. "I think the kids who participated had a pretty good idea of why we were doing this."
In future years, Mr. Brown said he hopes more students in the district will raise funds for the institute.
"We also think there’s a really great market for this in the high school," he said.

