Indian Trail students have been busy collecting pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. Not only is the school as a whole trying to top the more than $1,800 it raised last year for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, but the class that donates the most money per student will win a lunch from Olive Garden of pasta, salad and breadsticks. The students will be collecting change in their classrooms through Friday, Feb. 24. Each Friday during the fundraiser, student council representatives have been collecting the change from the classroom boxes and bringing them to student council sponsor and fifth-grade teacher Sandy Leff for counting. Posters in the hallway are tracking the progress of the fundraiser.

A representative from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society stopped by for the fundraiser kickoff assembly on Feb. 7. She showed the students pictures of a little girl who was helped by last year’s donations, and of a little boy named Martez who is currently going through treatment for cancer.

She talked about cancer and what the different types of blood cells do, and she told the students that their donations truly help.

“You might think—can pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters really make a difference?” she asked them. They certainly can.

Students across Illinois last year raised $783,000 for cancer research, $1,800 of which came from Indian Trail. The donations help the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in the fulfillment of its mission, which is to cure blood cancer and improve the quality of life for patients and their families through financial and other support, she said.