Students raise money for needy families

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Dec 25, 2003 by Capital-Journal

Photograph and story

by John E. Chambers

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

NORTH TOPEKA --- The students, staff and parents of Northern Hills Junior High School have given more than $25,000 in the past 17 years to help make Christmas merry for many families in the North Topeka area.

This year, representatives of the Northern Hills Student Council presented the Topeka North Outreach organization with a check for $1,685.27 on Dec. 12. That check represented the proceeds from the annual TNO Penny Drive sponsored each November by the school's student council. The check doesn't include two jars of coins that haven't yet been added to the fund.

During the ceremony, Chelsea Artzer, the Northern Hills student council president, presented the check to Ruth A. Sherrer, TNO treasurer and past president. Also participating in the ceremony were Ed Cowen, the student council adviser and Loretta Brooks, the council's publicity chairman.

Cowen said the Northern Hills Penny Drive began in 1986. A plaque in the school office recognizes the school's participation in the TNO Christmas program with its Penny Drive. Small plates on the plaque list the specific amounts donated on each of the years.

In addition to the cash donation, the school is providing 650 cans of soup for the 56 Christmas dinners TNO is helping provide for North Topeka and Oakland families "adopted" by the Christmas Bureau. Rob Davis at Northern Hills was in charge of the soup donation.

Cowen said the biggest cash donation to the Northern Hills Penny Drive came from the seventh-grade class of Jennifer Schwarzenberger. The school's donation figures were adjusted to per-student averages to make the competition between classes more fair. Schwarzenberger's computer class gave an average of $9 for each student. The effort earned the winning class a pizza party.

Although the TNO fund drive at Northern Hills is called a Penny Drive, any size coin or bill is accepted. The drive begins mid- November and continues to Thanksgiving Day.

In addition to helping to raise money through the Penny Drive, several classes and staff members at Northern Hills adopt families of their own for Christmas, Cowen said.

Sherrer said the TNO Christmas Project annually provides blankets, family-specific gifts and Bibles in addition to food baskets, and also receives and distributes items from the Toys for Tots campaign. Cub Scout Pack 103, sponsored by North Fairview Elementary School, donated 32 blankets for the TNO Christmas Project and the Sunrise Optimist Club of North Topeka donated four fresh Christmas trees from its tree lot.

Volunteers from TNO packed the Christmas items in boxes and organized them for the adopted families to pick up Dec. 20 at Northland Christian Church.

Topeka North Outreach is an organization comprised of 16 Topeka churches that demonstrate their Christian compassion by offering temporary emergency in various forms to help to North Topekans in need.

John E. Chambers is a writer and photographer living in North Topeka. He can be reached at 234-6773 or by e-mail at jackpot3@swbell.net.

Northern Hills Student Council representatives Chelsea Artzer, second from left, and Loretta Brooks, publicity chairman, right, hold a plaque that recognizes the student council's donations from annual Topeka North Outreach Penny Drives since 1986. Ruth A. Sherrer, TNO treasurer, left, and Ed Cowen, student council adviser, middle, participated in the check presentation.