Jeesh… who would have thought that a bunch of pennies could help restock a typhoon-destroyed school in the Philippines?
Fortunately, a fellow church friend, Honduras orphanage philanthropist, and 6th grade school teacher at Lyons Central School in upstate, NY did.
His name is Eric Lewis… and a few months ago after a liturgy at St. Michael’s Parish he told my mom that he thought the 6th graders at his school could help raise some relief funds for the Philippines typhoon victims by knocking on doors and asking for pennies. Within weeks the 6th graders had raised 24,500 pennies… the equivalent of $245!
When I was home in NY for Christmas I saw Eric at church and asked him why he was so interested in helping out the Philippines typhoon victims. After all, he was heavily involved with CasaDelNinoHonduras.org — a non-profit that provides for over 20 orphans in Honduras.
In short, Eric recognized that “the needs there [in the Philippines] are staggering” and he liked the idea of knowing exactly where the donations would go. That way, the American 6th graders could experience an early lesson in helping strangers in a faraway country — and they could see first hand how a small effort can make a meaningful difference.
But shortly after the pennies were collected and counted, the urgency in the Philippines seemed to have died down. We had already distributed $3,000 of our funds to three great causes… and the situation just did not seem as urgent as the weeks immediately following the typhoon (at least from my little bubble in Austin, TX).
While we were looking for the best place to distribute the $245 worth of pennies, an earthquake devastated poverty-stricken Haiti. Once again, Eric recognized the greater need, and his class decided to contribute $100 worth of their penny funds to the Red Cross Haitian Relief.
That leads us up to today…
Thanks to my friends James and Riza, we were able to donate $145 worth of pennies to help restock a school that was all but destroyed in Marikina, Philippines with everything from chairs and tables to books and flashcards. In the next post I’ll share the details on this relief effort so you can see how far 14,500 pennies can go.
In the meantime, I want to personally thank Eric and the 6th graders at his school for thinking of our friends in the Philippines. I don’t remember ever doing anything like this when I was in school. Maybe we did and I just forgot. Either way, if just a handful of these students remember how their simple penny drive helped restock a desperate school in a faraway country, imagine what a difference these kids could make when they’re all grown up…
-Greg