By Mary Owen
“They put their whole heart into making a wish come true for another child and whole heartedly believe they will reach their goal,” Moberg said. “They experience firsthand an activity that has become an important event for our school and community.”
Moberg said she hopes the fundraiser will spur her students to continue to help others long after the last school bell has rung.
“Secondly, this one activity brings so many educational aspects to it,” Moberg said. “We read about it, write about it, speak about it, and the math problems that we solve as we count every last penny are enormous!
“What makes it have so much of an impact is that the students aren’t just reading about what someone else did,” she added. “They are experiencing the whole thing themselves. It’s amazing what a 6- or 7-year-old can do when given the opportunity.”
The entire school works to collect donations, with friendly competitions taking place among classrooms to encourage participation, Moberg said.
“The classes that have the most pounds of change get a party of some sort – pizza, ice cream sundaes – at the end of the drive,” she said.
“The families of Sublimity School also help by taking donation jars to their work places. We have about 100 donation jars throughout the Willamette Valley, with the majority here in Sublimity and Stayton.”
With their bright yellow labels, donation jars are delivered to local businesses in late January, Moberg said.
“My class walks to the businesses in Sublimity to deliver jars, and the Hoffmans, a family of a past student now homeschooled, delivers jars to Stayton-area businesses.”
Class members also attend several local high school basketball games where they walk the court with large sheets to collect donations from the crowd, Moberg said.
On April 11, students will pull wagons throughout town to collect the jars, which will then be emptied onto the classroom floor to be counted.
“I have a kid-friendly system that works really well for counting all the change,” Moberg said. “Throughout the day, we make deliveries to Stayton’s U.S. Bank where the donations are run through a coin machine all day long. The total is deposited directly to the Make-A-Wish Foundation’s account.”
Even with a system, there are glitches.
“By the end of the day, their hands show how really dirty money is!” Moberg said. “They are blackened from their long day of hard work.”
Regardless, the annual penny drive sticks in student minds much longer than the hours it takes to count pennies, she added.
“Past students are always quick to comment by saying things like, ‘Remember when we did the penny drive? That was my favorite thing about first grade,’” Moberg said. “I hope that this experience will stay with them throughout their life.”
To help, Make-A-Wish sends a representative to a school assembly to share videos of wish stories from the Sublimity/Stayton area, Moberg said.
“The students get to hear the story of a sick child getting a wish,” she added. “It brings more meaning to their efforts.”
Moberg initiated the coin drive in 1996 as one of the 100th day of school activities.
“I asked the children in my class to bring in 100 pennies and when we were finished, we would donate to Make-A-Wish,” she said. “At the end of the 100th day of school, we had 23,000 pennies. It has just blossomed from there!”
Over the last 16 years, Moberg’s students have collected $52,000 for Make-A-Wish, a nonprofit foundation that grants wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions.
Their efforts have led to five wishes: a Portland girl’s shopping spree at Powell’s and Borders bookstores; a local boy to go to Disneyworld; a 2-year-old boy to go to Disneyland; a 4-year-old boy to have his own play structure; and a 7-year-old girl to meet the princesses at Disneyworld.
“Our small community of Sublimity and neighboring Stayton really support our efforts,” Moberg said. “Both towns, along with parents and students, have come to expect the Make-A-Wish Penny Drive every year!”
