POST FALLS — When Mike Renteria's house burned down last year, the only thing salvaged was 50 pounds of pennies that he'd saved when he was battling pancreatic cancer.

"I fished them out of the ashes, so to speak," Renteria said softly about the devastation in Mullan.

Renteria turned over the soot-damaged mound of metal — the pieces that weren't melted together, anyway — to his grandchildren in Post Falls, seventh-grader Hailee and third-grader Mason Bush.

The children said the history behind their gift was sentimental, considering it was all that was left after the fire and the experience of watching their grandpa battle cancer.

So when Post Falls Middle School's annual Pennies for Patients fundraiser to support research for kids with cancer rolled around, Hailee thought that would be the perfect destination for the pile of pennies.

"These were collected by my grandpa when he had cancer," Hailee said Thursday while displaying the donation at the school.

The first call she made after she had the idea of donating to the cause was to Renteria.

"He gratefully accepted and allowed me to use them this way," she said. "And I need to give credit to my brother as well (for donating his share)."

Hailee said donating the pennies made her feel good.

"I'm happy that my grandpa defeated cancer, but my uncle sadly didn't survive it," she said. "This makes my grandpa feel proud and I know it would have my uncle. Cancer is not a good thing to have to deal with.

"It wasn't too hard donating the pennies because I knew they will help people. Rather than just them sitting around, I thought it would be better for them to go toward something good."

Hailee's dad, Brandon, said Renteria means the world to his kids.

"She gave him hugs and kisses to ease that suffering (from cancer)," Brandon said. "So when they were given the opportunity to help someone else in that same predicament their grandfather was in, they jumped at the chance."

It turned out that getting Renteria's blessing to donate the pennies was the easy task for Hailee.

Packing 50 pounds of pennies — easily the largest single donation in the three years of the school's drive — to the school took diligence and patience.

Hailee said the plastic bags kept breaking.

"Bagging them took me a good hour," she said.

Hailee said she started walking to her bus stop at least 5 minutes early to allow extra time with the loot.

Brandon said he had some concerns about Hailee packing the weight of so many pennies, so he called Principal Brad Harmon to give him a head’s up for someone to watch for her on the school end.

"I said, 'We're probably going to need a little help with those pennies,'" Brandon said.

When Hailee trudged into school with her Lion King drawstring bag packed with pennies, school staff was in disbelief.

"We were thrilled and shocked," said teacher Suzanne Courtney, who organized the fundraiser.

She said last year's fundraiser fetched $805, so Hailee and Mason's donation has set the stage toward meeting this year's goal of $850.

Hailee estimates the donation at $90.

"There's 180 pennies to a pound, so if you multiply that by 50 pounds you have 9,000 pennies," she said.

Renteria said he was touched when Hailee called to see if it was OK if she donated the pennies.

"I said, 'They're yours, so whatever you do with them is fine with me,'" he said. "It was really thoughtful of both Mason and her to do that. It makes me proud. They think of others before themselves. Many kids would want to spend the money on themselves."

Renteria said he'd been saving the pennies for about eight years before the fire.

"Whenever I found pennies or had some in my pocket, I'd throw them in the jar," he said.

Cancer hit the middle school staff and students especially hard with the recent passing of their woodshop teacher, Brad Anderson.

"We have had heightened awareness with cancer," Harmon said.

Deeds such as those of Hailee and Mason are proof that kids can and do make a difference, he said.

"We have great kids who do great things," Harmon said.

Brandon said he's proud of his children for paying it forward with the pennies.

"Those pennies have gone through their own journey," he said. "They've come a long way. Now they're going to someone else who has cancer."