Jun 23, 2017 By Jacob Calvin Meyer 3 min read

Mellon Middle School students were recently recognized for its fundraising efforts after raising more than $7,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in February,

The school finished fifth overall in the regional chapter, which consists of schools from western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The students also raised the second most money in the chapter for its specific type of fundraiser: Pennies for Patients.

The school-wide fundraiser was spearheaded by Mellon’s student council, and head moderator Sue McDonald, a seventh-grade history teacher, said the fundraiser teaches the students valuable lessons.

“They hopefully are modeling their parents who give a lot and we as teachers are also trying to model that,” McDonald said. “Our students have a lot to offer and a lot to give and a lot of service and a lot of care. That’s what we’re trying to foster.”

Mellon has done a Pennies for Patients fundraiser for at least 10 years, but McDonald said the project was always smaller and less serious than this year’s.

The biggest change, McDonald said, was the competitive nature surrounding the three-week fundraiser. Each homeroom had a paper thermometer on its door to indicate how much money the students had raised. The winner in each grade was awarded a breakfast and the grand prize winner got an Olive Garden lunch.

“I think the competition drove it,” said Alicia Buch, assistant student council moderator and seventh-grade math teacher. “It gave them ownership of it, because it was the kids who were relying it to the rest of the student body.”

Ted Perri’s sixth-grade homeroom won the Olive Garden lunch by raising $826.

Perri’s homeroom, as many other homerooms, shattered the $100 goal set by student council.

What also drove the fundraiser’s success, McDonald said, was the leadership of the members of student council. To raise awareness for the fundraiser, there was an official kickoff, which is different than in year’s past.

Members of student council went to different homerooms to explain the fundraiser, as well as going on the morning announcements on day and doing a livestream about the fundraiser and LLS.

“I think that that helped,” McDonald said. “At that point, everybody had the same message. Everybody had the same goal. It was classroom by classroom, but it was also a school-wide mission.”

Buch thinks the fundraiser was eye-opening for the students.

“A lot of it was the kid-to-kid connection,” Buch said. “Seeing how fortunate most of them are to have their health and have their home and their education, but then to see kids their age just like them…I think really resonated with them.”

In total, the school raised $7,482 for LLS.

“I think it far exceeded both of our expectations,” Buch said. “Seeing the way the whole building came together to raise that amount of money was different and special to see.”

McDonald’s favorite memory from the fundraiser was when students would donate their birthday money to the cause.

“A lot of parents can donate a check, but the sweetest part was when kids would donate birthday money or instead of buying something uptown,” McDonald said. “Using that money and dropping it into the donation box, that’s the spirit that kind of spread around.”