Students at École Holy Cross (ECS) are learning about math while raising money for a good cause through their ‘Pennies for Paws' program.
"I got a change in my teaching assignment this year, and I found out I was just going to be teaching math classes. So when I was thinking about what I wanted to do with it this year, the idea of... just the concept of a million, for me was important," said Charlotte Mourot, a grade 4,6 and 7 math teacher at ECS.
"It's such a huge amount that I wanted to develop that idea. So I thought one of the ways of gaining the understanding of a million is collecting a million of something, so we brainstormed that and the idea of pennies came up, so that's what we went with."
All the pennies collected through the program will be donated to the SPCA and their ‘New Leash on Life' campaign. Collecting the pennies helps children gain a better understanding of number values, while providing the SPCA and their New Leash on Life Campaign with some much-appreciated support.
"The New Leash on Life campaign has been ongoing, now we're in our third year, and we're still continuing active fundraising and fundraising initiatives. What we're really excited about here today is the ‘Pennies for Paws' that will be allocated to the campaign," said Debbie Lehner, manager of the SPCA.
"The reward is to be able to see the million pennies at the end, and of course being able to donate our pennies to the SPCA" - Charlotte Mourot, a grade 4,6 and 7 math teacher at École Holy Cross
Lehner explained that the funds raised through the program will do measures for the SPCA and the upcoming construction of their new facility.
"There are so many places it can go when you're building a new facility. Anywhere from assisting with the construction of the various adoption rooms, cat condos, foster care programs, volunteer programs, we'd like to implement a camp for kids program, it could go to purchases of beds and supplies and toys... (there's) so many places the money could go," said Lehner.
At a presentation at ECS on Thursday, a very special canine named Duke (with some help from his family) presented the students with a contribution of 100,000 pennies, bringing their total to 500,000.While they've now reached the halfway point of their penny drive, the students still have a long way to go before they can reap the rewards of their tireless collecting.
"The reward is to be able to see the million pennies at the end, and of course being able to donate our pennies to the SPCA," said Mourot.
braden.dupuis@tc.tc
