Coin and food donation collection battles were waged among homerooms at Stimson Middle School all last week during the annual Penny Wars competition to see which homeroom reigned supreme after all the counting was done! It was also a big win for the Make-a-Wish Foundation, and the Wildcat Cares Food Pantry at Walt Whitman High School and the food pantry at St. Hugh’s Parish Outreach.
Now that the buckets have been emptied, the coins have been counted, and the food and hygiene items have been sorted, it was Team 315 (Ms. Kurnicki’s homeroom) who found themselves at the top of the leaderboard for the second year in a row with 151,253 points. This was more than 80,000 points ahead of Team 411 (Ms. Poller’s homeroom) who came in 2nd with 67,415 points. Team 105 (Mr. Guillen’s homeroom) came in 3rd with 16,280 points.
In terms of money collected, that adds up to $744.78 for Ms. Kurnicki’s winning homeroom. In total, all the Stimson homerooms combined collected just under $3,395 this year. Over the course of 15 Penny Wars, Stimson students have generated $58,263.74. Keep in mind that the vast majority of the money was loose change! The money has gone to fund various programs at Stimson Middle School and a number of Long Island charities including Schneider’s Children’s Hospital, The Little Shelter, and the Huntington Breast Cancer Action Coalition just to name a few.
Here’s how Penny Wars works: This is no ordinary penny collection. Each homeroom gets a collection container. Stimson students were asked to bring in coins (mostly pennies, of course), non-perishable food and hygiene product donations to their homeroom every day from October 23rd to October 27th. They can also donate to their homeroom container during their lunch period.
Pennies equal one point! Then there are Rules of Sabotage! Students are allowed to carry out sabotage missions each morning and go to other homerooms and drop items into opponent homerooms’ collection containers that take points OFF their collection total. For instance, silver coins reduce a team’s points by the amount of the coin. A dollar bill reduces the points by 100! And each day a specified hygiene item brought in for donation can take away anywhere from 50 to 200 points! Add to that a daily spin of the Point Multiplier Wheel and it’s anybody’s guess which homeroom could wind up the winner. The winning homeroom gets to celebrate with a field trip.
Team 315 will take a trip to Urban Air Adventure Park to celebrate their victory. In the spirit of sportsmanship, Team 315 has graciously welcomed Team 411 and Team 105 to join them on this trip.
A huge thank you to the incredible Stimson staff who have selflessly given their time to help count, sort, stack, pack, and then deliver the collected goods to the food pantries. And thank you parents, staff members, and especially students for your generosity.
Seventh graders: Start saving your pennies now. Who knows? Maybe you will help your team take home the title in 2024!
Stimson students were asked to bring in coins, non-perishable food and hygiene product donations to their homeroom every day from October 23rd to October 27th.
Beneficiaries of this year's Penny Wars include the Make-a-Wish Foundation, the Wildcat Cares Food Pantry at Walt Whitman High School and the food pantry at St. Hugh’s Parish Outreach.