Ossining Students Collect $1,609 in Spare Change to Fight Blood Cancers

The campaign is called Pennies for Patients, but Anne M. Dorner Middle School students pooled their pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters to raise a total of $1,609 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society this year.

The school kicked off the campaign with a visit Feb. 23 from a representative of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, which funds blood cancer research and provides education and patient services. The AMD Student Leadership Council, which ran the campaign, set up a table at lunch where their peers could donate. The council held a competition to see which grade could collect the most money, and the seventh grade won. Many students took Pennies for Patients boxes home and asked their families to help fundraise.

The students raised money for three weeks before the culminating event last Thursday: AMD’s Got Talent, in which teachers performed for students. A band composed of seven teachers sang such classics as “Knock on Wood” by Eddie Floyd and “I Feel Good” by James Brown. Other teachers choreographed a dance to Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk.” A few did renditions of popular songs, such as “Let It Go,” from the Disney movie “Frozen” and R. Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly,” while others wrote lyrics to the beat of current pop songs.

“Every year our school community looks forward to this event, which represents a cause that is bigger than any one person,” said Stephen Hancock, assistant principal at AMD. “The AMD’s Got Talent event helps foster our sense of school community and spirit, but more importantly is an example of how we as a school come together for a great cause.”

Children at schools around the country have raised millions of dollars for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society by participating in the Pennies for Patients campaign, which began in the society’s North Carolina chapter 20 years ago.