Service Credit Union teller Lisa Bonnes counts money raised by Bamberg Elementary School sixth-grade students as they all squeeze up to the window Thursday. The sixth-grade classes raised more than $300 of the approximately $1,300 collected by the school pupils for tsunami relief. (Rick Emert / S&S)
BAMBERG, Germany — Bamberg Elementary School pupils learned that a penny saved is more than $800 earned for tsunami victims.
Pupils from the third and sixth grades collected $863 in pocket change, and a used-book fair raised about $500 more to be donated to tsunami relief efforts.
The sixth-grade pupils — who are among several groups on U.S. bases in Europe that have helped raise money for the relief effort — took their collected money to the Service Credit Union on Warner Barracks on Thursday.
Money donated at Service Credit Union branches worldwide by Monday will be matched, up to a total of $50,000, by the credit union and sent to AmeriCares, which has guaranteed that 100 percent of the donations will go to tsunami victims, said Modesto Polintan, Bamberg branch manager.
“Every student contributed,” said Karen Roeder, a sixth-grade teacher.
“There was 100 percent participation.”
Roeder said she and the pupils began brainstorming on what they could do to help the day after winter break ended. The official death toll from the tsunami, which hit communities in 11 South Asian and African countries on Dec. 26, has been placed at between 171,000 and 182,000. More than 125,000 are missing, with most presumed dead.
“They wanted to do something,” Roeder said. “They came up with the idea of collecting change, and two students from other classrooms went door-to-door to collect $100.”
“We wanted to do something to help the people who were affected by the tsunami,” said Britany Starr, a sixth-grader. “I hope the money we collected really helps them.”
