x
Breaking News
More () »

Pennies for Peace leads to pies in the face at All Saints Catholic School

The eighth grade fundraising initiative raised $2,324.23 for Ukraine relief.

ROSSFORD, Ohio — Kids here at home are coming together to help Ukrainians affected by war.

Students at Rossford's All Saints Catholic School raised an impressive amount of cash.

All Saints Catholic School held a special April Fools' Day pep rally.

It was a celebration for the end of a school-wide Pennies for Peace collection drive organized by the eighth grade class to raise relief funds for Ukraine refugees.

"There was a lot of great ideas, but we decided we wanted to go with Pennies for Peace. Because we've done it before and the kids love it, and it usually turns out pretty good," eighth grade class president Ella Morse said.

Each class' totals were weighed, with the third grade class winning with just over 2 pounds of pennies.

The final total was $2,324.23, all donated to St. Michaels Ukrainian Catholic Church in Rossford, which will wire the money directly to parishes in Eastern Europe.

"We'd never really imagined we'd be making that much money. I mean, we anticipated a couple hundred, but a couple thousand is a surprise to us all," James Loomis, eighth grade vice president, said.

Credit: Jon Monk
In total, the fundraiser collected $2,324.23 for Ukrainian relief

And finally, whipping the student body into a frenzy, the third grade class was awarded a chance to pie the entire eighth grade class, eighth grade teacher and even principal Lenkey.

A fun time to celebrate their hard work for a good cause.

"If you think about it thousands and thousands of families displaced by this war, we're just trying to help out any way we can," eighth grader Samuel Buehler said.

"It's amazing how generous the children are to help people that they don't know halfway around the world," Father Stephen Paliwoda with St Michael's said. "And for them to make that sacrifice for them is just a blessing."

The ultimate goal here is that this simple gesture from these students here today can have a ripple effect across the region and inspire folks young and old to look and see what they can possibly do to help the folks in Ukraine as well.

"We hope that the other kids get to eighth grade, maybe they'll decide to do a fundraiser kind of like this, or some other service project that can help impact people's lives in big ways," Loomis said.

MORE FROM WTOL 11:

Before You Leave, Check This Out