Teacher Laura Lewis came up with the idea for the dime drive. The 100th day of school was Tuesday, Feb. 3, and in the two weeks leading up to that date, each classroom was asked to collect 100 dimes, but they went above and beyond their goal.
The fifth-grade class had their own separate goal of 1,000 dimes, marking their thousandth day of school since they started kindergarten.
“I found them from like, we have, we have this like a jar that we do. Like, we put a bunch of different coins in there. We got a ton of, we got over 100 dimes from there,” said 5th-grade student Maque Jager.
Erie said the Humane Society was impressed with how involved the youth are in the cause.
“It all starts when we’re young. And this is a great thing that they did not only for the community, but also for the animals. It’s a starting point. Start early,” Erie said.
The school has done the dime challenge in years past, previously raising 8,000 dimes. The fundraising effort has grown each time.