Grade Seven girls Cassi Stoller (left), Ariana Burke, Lily Michaels and Kirby Webb (right) organized a penny drive last month that pulled in 47,000 of the one-cent coins. Each of the 19 heavy-duty bags in front contains $25 worth of pennies, said Kirby Webb. That’s a lot of pennies and they “came just from Columbia Park Elementary,” said Cassi Stoller. Her classmate Ariana Burke said “people gave us bags and bags and bags of pennies.” These heavy-duty bags are to be taken to the Royal Bank and the money will go to a Free The Children Campaign to provide clean water for life to 100,000 people. The pennies these kids have collected are enough, according to the campaign website at http://www.freethechildren.com/get-involved/campaigns/we-create-change/, to provide clean water to 20 people for life. That may not sound like a lot but think about how you can change people’s lives when they no longer have to worry about being infected with crippling water-borne parasites. They will be used to purify community water systems in Sierra Leon. Lily Michaels said the collection began on February 1 and ended on February 19. The girls are all in Alexic Klassen’s Grade Seven class at CPE. David F. Rooney photo
