An epic fundraiser

Students made posters announcing their pledges to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. 

After what I will call an epic fundraiser, my students and I are getting ready to enjoy a pasta dish at a popular food chain. Out from their own pockets, 23 children collected about 300 dollars for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. How did we accomplish the task? It was part day dreaming, part personal conviction.

During a school wide presentation, a representative from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society gave a brief explanation about cancer cells and gave away piggy banks to collect money for a few days. Teachers would gather the money and submit it. As a reward, the class that accumulated the most funds would be given a meal at a restaurant. Easy enough.

In my case, however, it became an opportunity to teach the kids a few lessons.

My brother Juan Jose and his children

My brother Juan Jose is a cancer survivor. He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma three years ago. It was a time of trial for all of us. Thankfully, after a year of treatment and a lot of prayers, he is healed. Also, two of my aunts have died from leukemia related diseases.

Aurora, one of my 23 students, had a cancerous tumor in her right hand. She had surgery to remove the mass, and she also had bone implanted between her thumb and her index fingers. We prayed over her as a class, and she is now recovering successfully.

Aurora, after the surgery

As the students assembled their piggy banks, I told them about my brother, and explained again that the funds would go to help children like our own Aurora.

—On top of that—I said, if we collect enough money, we might eat pasta in a nice restaurant.

The kids went crazy. Half of them rarely go to a place that does not offer fast food, and a few hardly ever eat out at all. They wanted to know if they could dress up, if we would take the school bus, if their parents would go with them… they even asked if they could order pasta Alfredo!

—We first have to collect the money— I reminded them.

The next day they came to school with full piggy banks: 25 dollars in quarters, 16 dollars in pennies, nickels, and dimes, lots of boxes with 5 and 6 dollar amounts. It was all well. We still had the weekend to collect, and some kids were promising big amounts here and there.

After Memorial Day weekend, the kids came back with surprising boxes: 30 dollars from parents’ and grandparents’ donations; 45 dollars collected at dad’s restaurant; 10 dollars from a lemonade stand, 16 dollars from grandpa’s old coin jar… some children added to their original donation and one, whose mother is a widow with 5 children to take care for, brought a few coins she had saved over the last months.

As the students counted and added their bills and coins, I saw their self-esteem rising, their pride mounting, and satisfaction shining on their faces. We discussed, again and again, the possibility of not winning. They seemed to understand that, in any case, it was a worthwhile cause.   

From the beginning I felt compelled to donate. I told the class that I would bring my coins too, but did not pledge a specific amount. When everything was added up, I opened my wallet and matched the highest individual donation.

We had collected 345 dollars! We were all aghast. I had never experienced generosity of this kind. To make it memorable, we weighed the money, created word problems, and practiced multiplication facts using the coins. We had learned lots of nice lessons out of this fundraising event!

Still humbled, I got to school early the next day. Hopefully, they would announce the winners and all the frenzy would come to an end. However, as I opened my email account, a possibility that had not even crossed my mind became a reality: one of the highest donors in the class took money for the fundraising without mom’s permission. It was my turn to learn a lesson. I apologized to the mother for not being more inquisitive about the amount, I had to talk to the whole class about it, and we had to return a significant chunk of the money that would probably have made us winners.

I decided to have a private conversation with the student. Then, the whole class had a lecture about honesty. Nobody knew who the delinquent was, nor the amount that was to be returned. We waited patiently until an announcement was made.

In time we learned that not only did we win the fundraiser, but we provided almost half of the school’s total collection. We would go to the dinner after all!
I don't know what lessons these students will take with them for the rest of their lives. Maybe some will continue to be generous. Hopefully some will learn not to steal from mom, even if it is for a worthwhile cause. They all learned that teamwork is a powerful thing, even when not all of them participate (not all the students came back with piggy banks).

I definitely learned that children are easily influenced —even gullible— and that a teacher’s word can be taken to heart for a lifetime… but most importantly, that the classroom is a place for learning a lot more than academic standards. 

Adding with regrouping had never been as fun as when the kids were adding the money for the fundraising.