By John Saccenti, Staff Writer
The American Red Cross has four warehouses that are open and operating at full capacity. It’s also producing 1 million liters of water every day and has distributed food and relief items to almost 20,000 families.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg in its efforts to help victims of the Jan. 12 earthquake that devastated much of Haiti.
To help the humanitarian effort, donations from across the country have flooded in to the Red Cross, and schools in the West Windsor-Plainsboro school district are doing their part. Students at the Village School have raised close to $5,000 to be donated to the American Red Cross, mostly through a Penny War that saw the teams step up the competition to a level that impressed their teachers.
Other schools, including the Maurice Hawk Elementary School, which held a Read-A-Thon, also are helping.
”I know that the teachers were shocked, absolutely shocked by the amount of money that came in,” said Village School teacher Karen Cane. “I don’t know if I’m as shocked as much as I’m pleased that we raised so much money. I’m up to my eyeballs in money.”
The weeklong Penny War, which ran Jan. 25 to 29, raised $4,871.95 to be given to the American Red Cross. Ms. Cane said some of the students had some help, with some larger bills making appearances throughout the week.
”We had a couple of $100 bills, a couple of $50 bills and a check for $25 come in,” she said.
Throughout the week, students also got to satisfy their competitive nature. Students at the Village School were divided into four teams, with whoever raised the most pennies winning. The catch was, though, if a team received silver coins or cash, it brought their “point total down.” In the end, the team with the most money actually was the loser, but in the long run, ended up helping the cause the most.
”The biggest day for money was Friday,” said Ms. Cane. “Everybody learned how to do it. They have a very competitive spirit, but it was very friendly.”
The kids also came to realize just how important small things like the Penny War can be.
”They were very excited about it,” said Ms. Cane. “Many students wanted to do something, and there was no question about donating. It made them feel really good.”
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Village School Penny War participants, from left, included Madhav Ramesh, Alex Valen, Maren Ogg, Matthew Efstathios, Luke Jacques and Anesha Nadella.
