School No. 2 Students Collect ‘Pennies for Patients’

Students at Fort Lee School No. 2 wanted to raise $500 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society after a recent visit to the school by representatives from the organization. But they ended up doing a lot better than that, raising more than $2,800 over about a two-week period through the “Pennies for Patients” fundraiser.

“They came and did a presentation for our kids and showed the difference between red and white blood cells and how chemotherapy works and how it kills the bad cells,” said School No. 2 Counselor and Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) advisor Meghan Lynch. “So it really got the kids pumped.”

Each class had a large box, and students would put their spare change in them—mostly pennies, but nickels, dimes, quarters and even small bills as well—throughout the week. And then the roughly 27 student members of SADD would go around and collect the boxes on Friday.

“When [the representatives from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society] came, they said if we raise $500, the top class would get a pizza party, and the second class would get an ice cream party,” Lynch said. “So we were hoping that we would get $500.”

In the end, Lynch said, “Unbelievably, it was $2877.59; we were floored.”

“I cannot express how proud the faculty and staff here at School 2 is of our school and students for raising money for such a great cause,” Lynch said.

Kindness Month: Pay it Forward

Lynch also said that “Kindness” is the theme of the month at the local elementary school, where they’re calling February “Pay it Forward Month.”

This week, the students’ challenge is to write positive messages to each other, for example, and daily announcements this month have included quotes related to friendship and kindness. The children also made “really cute” Valentine’s Day cards for people at St. Michaels Villa in Englewood Cliffs, Lynch said.

School staff introduced and demonstrated the “Pay it Forward” theme at an assembly earlier this month, Lynch explained.

“If I did an act of kindness, I showed them that I would give the heart as my act to [School No. 2 Principal Marianela Martin], and the principal gave her heart to another teacher to show that she’s passing the act of kindness on,” Lynch said. “And then the other teacher gave it to a student, and so on. It showed how paying it forward means not to give it back necessarily just to the person who did the act of kindness to you, but to pay it forward to someone else.”

The school is also giving out “Pay it Forward” awards this month to students who demonstrate that they’re embracing the theme.

“One of the [second grade] students came up with the idea to try to do 100 good deeds for this month,” Lynch said. “He inspired his whole class to try and do a hundred good deeds together.”