Sunnyvale Middle School student Annie Mand, 13, and teacher Susie Smare count out coins collected during the Pennies for Patients drive. The school collected more than $7,000 to fight leukemia and lymphoma.
Photograph by Jana Seshadri
Small change helps make big difference for research
Students raise $7,000 in pennies for leukemia and lymphoma cure
By Jana Seshadri
Approximately 21,500 deaths were attributed to leukemia and 27,600 to lymphoma in the United States last year, according to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. To lessen such staggering statistics, several Sunnyvale schools, including Sunnyvale Middle School, participated in the Pennies for Patients annual fund drive.
Sponsored by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and spearheaded by the Kiwanis sponsored Builders Club, the school raised $7,000 this year for the cause--$1,000 more than last year--said science teacher Susie Smare.
"It was really cool," said Annie Mand, seventh-grader at the middle school.
Eighth-grader Mary Beth Lavaka said she donated $15 to the fund, and added, "I feel good about it."
What started accidentally three years ago has turned into an annual event at the school with growing success each year. A friendly competition between the classes spurred the students to raise a total of $7,000 for the cause.
Smare said her 29-student class won first place, bringing in almost $45 each. The competition was on a per-student basis, and not on class size, which made it a fair way to compete, she said.
Students found innovative ways to collect money, Smare said. The school held fundraising events, like magazine subscription drives, to enable students to collect money in school.
Paul Rowe, a sixth-grade teacher in his third year at Sunnyvale, said that by collecting almost $1,000, his 31-student class won second place in the competition.
"I am lucky enough to have a group of highly motivated sixth-graders," Rowe said.
At the beginning of the campaign, Rowe said he had his students write an essay about how they would feel if someone they knew had leukemia or lymphoma and what they would do about it.
With a lot of different fundraising ideas to start from, the students came up with some of their own ideas and executed them effectively, he said. His students brought in movies and sold tickets for other school students to watch in school.
"Our teachers supervised the campaign by holding bake sales, car washes, walk-a-thons and other events with their students," Smare said.
Eighth-grader Dominique LeBaron said that as coordinator of the campaign, she got very involved in the cause and was able to encourage and motivate other students to be enthusiastic about it. With weekly meetings and timely campaign updates, students were kept motivated, she said.
"We had a goal to collect $10,000 this year," LeBaron said.
Despite rallying hard and collecting $1,000 during the final week alone, they were $3,000 short of their goal, she said.
Gina Donnelly, manager of the campaign, said it was very satisfying to work with the children in the different schools. About 75 schools, from pre-school to high school--from Silicon Valley, Santa Cruz and Monterey--participated in the nationwide "pennies for patients" drive, which started in February and will continue until the end of May, said Melissa Struzzo, special events director of the society. A majority--almost 80 percent--of the funds raised goes right back into the cause, she said.
"It was wonderful to see children helping other children," Donnelly said.
More knowledge of such diseases reduces the fear among children and helps them better cope with tough situations.
"It's really a good thing for students to be aware of the world around them and know what's going on," Smare said.
Mand, 13, said she hopes to join the effort next year and collect more money for the cause. And next year Mand hopes her class will win the friendly competition.
Leukemia remains a leading cause of death among children under age 15, according to the society. Leukemia is a malignant disease that originates in a cell in the marrow, and lymphoma is a general term for a group of cancers that originate in the lymphatic system. These blood-related cancers involve the uncontrolled growth of a single cell, which becomes abnormal or malignant and multiplies continuously or mutates. This accumulation of malignant cells interferes with the body's production of healthy blood cells and makes the body unable to protect itself against infections.
"We're really hoping that we can find a cure for the diseases," Smare said.
Struzzo said the society is trying to educate and inform schools in Silicon Valley about the diseases with educational material. Programs like First Connection, connect new cancer patients with peer groups and offer them counseling programs.
"The goal is to find a cure for leukemia and other blood-related cancers and also to improve the quality of life of the patients suffering from these diseases," Struzzo said.
Treatment approaches for these cancers often include chemotherapy, radiation therapy, stem cell or marrow transplantation and immunotherapy. In many cases, patients combine traditional treatment methods with alternative ones. Treatment in many cases brings about a complete remission, which means there is no evidence of the disease and the patient returns to good health with normal blood and marrow cells. A relapse however, indicates a return of the malignant cells.
Even though the overall survival rate has tripled in the past 40 years for leukemia patients and has almost doubled for lymphoma patients, there is no known cure for the diseases so far.
Sunnyvale Middle School seventh-graders Magaly Laura and Brittany Prez said they were happy to contribute to the cause.
"We're helping people," Prez said.
Information about blood-related cancers can be found by visiting www.leukemia-lymphoma-nca.org or by calling 408.271.2873.
Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
