Coins for Cancer is an annual event hosted by the National Honor Society-also known as NHS- at Erie High School. This year the event ran from February 15th to February 28th and raised a total of $1,380.49 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

This year the NHS members that were in charge of the event were juniors Maggie Lane and Ella Valania. These girls worked to host this entire event, which included giving each classroom a bucket for their coins, making posters, putting out announcements, and counting all of the coins. Valania states; “It’s one of the most impactful fundraisers we have at Erie and it really makes a difference for the lives of a lot of people.”

Students were encouraged to donate to their A day Block 2 class bucket. The top three classes that raise the most coins will win a special prize. The class that is most commonly known to win is Aguirre’s class. Aguirre has been teaching at Erie for over 15 years, and he currently teaches personal finance. However, this year Mrs. Dyck’s study hall class came in first place raising a total of $250.81. Aguirre came in second with a total of $129.78.

There is a way to sabotage the other classes to ensure that your class wins. All paper dollars donated to a jar count as negative points, so students are encouraged to donate both coins to their jars, and dollar bills to any other jars.

In addition to the coin jars in the classrooms, there were also tables set up at lunch that students could donate to. The plus side to donating at lunch was getting a free bracelet, pin, or ribbon for donating. Isabel Fridel, a junior, and volunteer for this event who worked at the collection table at lunch noted that; “Half [of the students] were happy to donate or wanted to help, mostly high schoolers don’t carry change any more.”

Many students only caring about their cards is a valid concern with this event. One way to help students remember to bring their coins was by assigning them a task to do each day. For example, one day was clean out your car day, the next was clean out your couch day, and there also was a change from lunch day. On the last day of the event, there was a spirit day for all students to wear orange or red to show their support for this honorable cause.

If students weren’t able to participate in this fundraiser, NHS still has many events for students to help contribute to a good cause. For example, there will be a blood drive in April that students can participate in, an egg hunt for the local elementary students, and many other fun events.