Penny collection adds up
to boost for first-aiders
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — A penny earned is a penny served. Multiply that by 75,000 and you have $750 for the Freehold First Aid and Emergency Squad, which serves Freehold Township and Freehold Borough.
That’s the principle students at the Joseph J. Catena School, Burlington Road, operated on for a President’s Day project.
The students collected 75,000 pennies and the PTO matched that donation for a total of $1,500 to the first aid squad, said PTO President Christina Smith.
Smith said the project was the brainchild of Barbara Hammill, the school’s media specialist.
"I suggested that we donate the money to the first aid squad because of the stories I had been reading in the News Transcript about the squad being in desperate need of funds," Smith said. "We knew that the first-aiders had not reached their goal financially and we wanted to help them get a little bit closer. We also knew they were not getting as much as they wanted from the township, while 100 percent of the township makes use of the first aid service.
"We felt that helping the first aid squad is a great cause," said Smith, who has lived in Freehold Township for more than four years. "It is of local importance and will help make these children more aware of the first aid squad. It is a good education for them. I was a little surprised that they were able to collect as many pennies as they did. A lot of people new to the township do not realize that first aid members are not professionals, that they are all volunteers and depend upon donations to keep serving the public."
Smith said her own children, Christopher, 11, a fifth-grader, Nicholas, 9, a fourth-grader, Maria 7, a first-grader, and Emma, 5, in preschool, took part in the penny collection effort.
"All of the children got very excited about taking part," she said. "The pennies arrived in all kinds of containers."
Another task was converting the pennies into paper money at the penny arcade in the Commerce Bank, Route 537, Smith said.
"That was an exciting time for my children, who went with me to the bank," Smith said. "It was a lot of work, feeding 75,000 pennies into the machines and it took six hours, about the time it took the children to collect them."
William Madden, a longtime first aid squad member, past president and current trustee, said he was very impressed and thankful for the donation.
"When I learned what they had done I was very surprised by the amount of money they were able to collect," Madden said. "It’s wonderful that they were aware that we need the funds, starting at such an early age.
"Hopefully, when these children are old enough, they will become cadets in the squad and later become senior members," he continued. "That could be an indirect benefit of the project — some day these children becoming some of our volunteers."
— Dick Metzgar