DIXON – Dixon Elementary School will be devoting the month of February to raising money for the national charity Pennies for Patients. The charity raises funds for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

The Pennies for Patients campaign began in 1995 in North Carolina. Every year since, millions of students across the country participate. Dixon Elementary School has been participating for more than five years.

The intention is to have students and faculty alike donate their spare change—thus the name ‘Pennies for Patients.’

Each student is given their own individual coin box to take home and fill. In addition, each classroom has a larger coin collection box that the students fill collectively. This sparks a friendly team competition to motivate the kids.

The classroom vs. classroom competition has taken place the past few years. The winning classroom is provided with a prize—a pizza party.

According to School Secretary Breezy Coston, the younger kids really enjoy getting involved and raising money for a good cause.

The students watched a video provided by the Pennies for Patients website that showed them real people currently fighting leukemia. This helps to further motivate the children to help.

The idea is to make leukemia disappear. The school visually represented this by spelling out the word ‘leukemia’ on the wall and for every small goal that is met a letter will be removed.

The school’s goal this year is to raise $250. Coston said the goal changes from year to year depending on the student enrollment and what is feasible.

The hope this year is to get the Dixon community outside of the school involved as well. Letters were sent home to the parents of the students, but any and all donations are greatly appreciated.