On Wednesday, December 8, Kanab Elementary School (KES) kicked off their penny war holiday fundraiser, which will continue through Thursday, December 16. Each year, the funds raised go towards someone in our community, and this year, the penny war proceeds will be donated to the R.A.W. Foundation. R.A.W., which is a registered non-profit organization and stands for Real Authentic Warriors, was created to benefit burn/trauma survivors and their families, and help them with the things they are need of on their road to recovery. This foundation was inspired by Rawkee, a young, local burn victim who has been through multiple surgeries and medical treatments after she was severely burned while helping her dad on the farm in 2020. Along her road to recovery, Rawkee and her parents felt inspired to create a platform as a way to pay forward all that had been done for them, and the R.A.W. Foundation was born.
How does a penny war work exactly? Students at KES are encouraged to gather up as much loose change they can find and contribute it to their grade’s allotted containers. Each grade makes up a team, and each team is trying to win the honors of Penny War champions!
A team can earn points by contributing pennies (one point), one dollar bills (100 points), five dollar bills (500 points) and 10 dollar bills (1,000 points) to their team’s container. But, the teams also have the opportunity to sabotage other grades by adding silver change to other team’s containers, which result in negative points! If nickels, dimes or quarters are put into another team’s container, that team has points taken away! It’s a very sneaky and clever way of building unity within each grade, having some fun competition and raising funds for a good cause all at the same time. The grade with the most points wins an extra recess and a hot chocolate and donut party.
You can get involved by sending along any spare change you may have with your elementary school child, grandchild, neighbor or friend, and encourage them to participate in this noble endeavor. Let the wars begin!
