Fifth-grader raises $900 in change

Fifth-graders are normally interested in recess, playing games and having fun. Rachel Kenley is interested in all of those things too, but she also has bigger things she aspires to.

One of those things is helping others. She said she has wanted to help others "ever since I was a kid," and so she organized a change drive that resulted in Pioneer Peak Elementary raising $900 for the UNICEF organization.

"I thought we would be lucky if each kid would bring in a quarter and I did the math and that would be about $126," Kenley said. "But we raised $900. I was amazed."

Principal Pat Mayer was also amazed, but not about the dollar amount. He said he was impressed with how Kenley organized the change drive and made it so successful.

"She came to the office with a video and some posters for me to look at, and she talked to our entire staff about what she wanted to do," Mayer said. "She is a very mature fifth-grader. She did a wonderful job with the change drive."

As it turned out, appearing before the entire staff of her school was more intimidating than raising money for children living in poverty.

"That was kind of scary," Kenley admitted.

After getting the OK from the staff, Kenley went into each classroom and asked them to design labels for coffee cans. The theme of "Kids Helping Kids" appeared on each can, which were placed in classrooms.

Every three days, Kenley announced on the intercom the amount of money each class raised. She then solicited Slack's Sugar Shack Bakery in Palmer to donate doughnuts, which the top-raising class got to enjoy.

"I mean, she had everything covered, from the cans to a doughnut party," Mayer said.

By making it a competition, the students really got into the drive, Kenley said.

"One kid put a $10 bill in the can, and another had his mom write a $10 check," Kenley said. "One girl even wanted to donate $40 of her birthday money, but her mom wouldn't let her. That would have been cool."

The money raised is being donated to UNICEF. Kenley researched the project a year ago, and has talked to a UNICEF volunteer ever since, trying to coordinate the project.

"We wanted to do it last year, but school was almost over, and things didn't work out," Kenley said. "So we decided to do it this year, and it worked."

Kenley said she had help from her three friends -- Rebekah McQuown, Shelby Hattenburg and Hannah Willardson -- in counting the money, rolling the coins and figuring out the totals.

"That's a lot of rolling change," Mayer said.