Pennies From Heaven
Pennies From Heaven
A Little Change In Someone’s Life
The Pennies From Heaven campaign has become widely known as a proud thread in the fabric of Assumption College School over its seventeen year history. The campaign is held annually during the Advent season as Christmas approaches. Ms. Loretta Plomley, Assumption’s first chaplain, began this tradition in an effort to help the needy families in Assumption’s school and local community. The combination of change donations from students of all grades and teachers in their first year amounted to $1,000.00
. Ever since, the bar has been always increased as piles of nickels, dimes, quarters, and pennies fill the jars of each and every classroom.
This year, ACS set the bar high at a sizable $15,000.00. With focus and determination, homerooms set off in a quest to achieve this amazing goal. This amount had been determined with the goal of helping over 50 families this past Christmas season. Last year, Assumption was able to pull together 14,452.12 and helped exactly 50 families, over 250 individuals. The Assumption students were up for the challenge. Since collection is done through student’s homerooms, an award is given to the class that raises the most money. This award is known to all as the famous “Golden Pig”. In other words, this is a golden piggy bank which has come to be a symbol of the campaign.
The students were aware of the goal for this year, and did not want to disappoint. For each of the five weeks in the campaign, students donated generously and the goal was within their grasps. By the end of the fifth week, the students at Assumption College School did not just reach the goal of $15,000, but surpassed it by donating a fantastic $17,687.38.
“It’s amazing that our school can do so much for those less fortunate. It shows our school has a lot of heart.” – Lynden Rodrigues, a grade 12 student at ACS comments on the amount of money raised during the campaign.
The homerooms of Mr. Weszner and Mr. Brophy were at the top of the campaign, both raising $1,016.17 each. The students in these homerooms were honoured with the award of the Golden Pig.
With the total of $17, 687.38, fifty six families were helped over the Christmas season. This provided the families with food, drinks, hygiene materials and other basic supplies to help out with anything that they may need over Christmas. In the past, the Pennies from Heaven campaign has helped families with rent and hydro as well. All of these goods were delivered to the families right before Christmas so they could have a more enjoyable holiday season.
This campaign is a source of pride for Assumption students, and is a shining example what people can do to help others by working together. Thanks go out to all who donated to the campaign, and the ACS Business Leadership Classes which organized it. ACS looks forward to this campaign in coming years because it is one of the great ways that we can help out the people around us at such an important time of year. Just as the slogan for the campaign goes, “Everyday Change, Changing Everyday Lives!”
