SANDPOINT — When it comes to gathering donations for cancer patients, spare change can add up.

The Sandpoint High School Key Club is on a mission to gather as many of the copper-colored coins as they can as they begin a local "Pennies for Patients" drive this week.

"People donate pennies, we try to collect as many pennies as we can and then we give them to cancer patients in helping them recover from cancer," said Key Club president and SHS junior Taylor Hill.

Hill said the group will be setting up jars at places around town, including the school and Dub's Drive-In. She said they hope to get jars in some of the stores downtown as well. Hill said the club had not set a specific goal, but she hopes to raise a minimum of $400.

According to pennies.org, millions of dollars have been raised in pennies by elementary, middle school and high school students across the country through the Pennies for Patients drive since 1994. The national Pennies for Patients campaign benefits the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Hill said it is her first time to be involved in the Pennies for Patients drive, but said the club advisor has a personal connection to cancer and has been involved in the fundraiser in previous years.

"So this is something that she really drives us to do, because she knows what it's like," Hill said. "I think that things like this are extremely necessary in order to kind of keep the community flowing and to give it hope that there are people around who do want to put a helping hand in."

The SHS Key Club is about serving the community, helping friends and neighbors in need.

"I like to explain it as we are a key to community," Hill said.

SHS Key Club members help with fundraising events and volunteer at a lot of community events, Hill said. This winter, for example, they volunteered as Salvation Army Kettle Campaign bell ringers. They also volunteer during Relay for Life, another fundraiser in the effort to cure cancer.

For information on where to donate or to host a donation jar contact Hill at hill.taylor@lposd.org.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.