It is November so, we are getting closer to one of the most exciting days of school: Case Rally.  A big part of Case Rally is Penny Pounds.  Penny Pounds is a competition between classes to raise the most money for charity.  Being a student at the school for three years and president of my class for two, I decided to launch an investigation.  I started off by asking some students if they knew where the money went.  The general response given by all the students was that the money was donated, but they did not know the specific organizations the money was given to.  It was concerning to me that the organizations are not known because of the amount of time and effort students of all grades put in to raise money for Penny Pounds.  My next step in my search for answers was to email the principal.  Mr. Lanczycki emailed me back that the class advisors would be able to tell me where the Penny Pounds money went because each class determines where their money will go.  That led me to email all the class advisors requesting to interview them. Only Ms. Ferris responded to my request for information.

Ms. Ferris told me that the individual class deciding where their money went was only started two years ago.  In years prior, Penny Pounds from all classes were pooled together to buy Auclair’s and Stop and Shop gift cards.  These gift cards were then given to families in need.  This practice was abandoned because many of the clubs in the schools were doing the same thing.  Ms. Ferris also told me where the senior money had been donated for the past two years.  Two years ago, half of the money went to a girl in Berkley who was fighting cancer.  The other half was split between two food banks: Open Shelves Food Pantry in Berkley and Annelle Delorme-Hagerman Food Pantry at the Church of Our Savior in Somerset.  Last year, all of the money was sent to the two food pantries mentioned previously.  Ms. Ferris went on to tell me that this year, the seniors were planning on donating their Penny Pounds money to Best Buddies.  Best Buddies is an international organization that helps those with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

After my interview with Ms. Ferris, I was happy to hear that the money raised by the seniors has gone to good use and will continue to help those in need.  After this interview was done, an agreement was made between the class presidents to donate all of the money to Best Buddies.