Poland kids do the math to raise funds for charity

By DENISE DICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

POLAND — Since 1993, pupils at McKinley Elementary have raised nearly $58,000 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital by doing math.

This year’s McKinley total reached $6,200 for the pediatric treatment and research center in Memphis, Tenn.

Brandon Fagert, Theodora Constantine, Anthony Suszczynski, Devin Beaumier and Sydney Smaldino raised the most of their classmates. They completed 250 math programs supplied in a St. Jude Math-A-Thon pamphlet and gathered pledges and donations for their work.

Sixth-grader Sydney, 11, raised $250.

“It was some of my family and I donated some of it myself,” she said.

Of her total, $200 was Sydney’s own money that she’d saved.

“Some of my family members have died from cancer, and I thought it was a worthy cause to donate to,” Sydney said.

Chris Carkeet, brand manager for the St. Jude Math-A-Thon, said most schools raise about $2,000 through the program.

“So for them to raise more than three times the average is amazing,” he said. “That’s pretty exceptional. For them to have a total [since 1993] of $58,000 shows true dedication to the program.”

Fifth-graders Brandon and Theodora, both 11, raised $300 and $249, respectively.

“My nana and my mom helped me,” Brandon explained, adding that he wanted to help sick children

Theodora, whose brother raised $480 through the annual Math-A-Thon a few years ago, said she called members of her family asking for donations.

“When I see pictures of kids who are sick, I feel very sad and I’m thankful that I’m not sick,” Theodora said.

Sixth-graders Devin, 13, raised $265 and Anthony, 12, collected $250.

Devin decided to participate in the program because he wanted to help sick children.

“I always see sick kids, and it really pains me to see them all sick,” he said. “What me and my mom like about St. Jude is that they pay for everything. The parents only have to worry about their sick kids.”

Anthony agreed.

“The parents of sick children have enough on their minds, and the last thing they need to worry about is money,” he said.

Sue Meehan, a math teacher at the school, said participation is voluntary and about 45 percent of the pupils sign up. Math booklets are designed and distributed according to grade level.

“The students get two weeks to do the problems and collect the money,” the teacher said. “I check in with my students during that time to see if they need help with anything.”

The five top fund-raising pupils all consider themselves good at math but say the cause of helping sick children was their chief motivator.

They spent anywhere from a couple of hours to a few days completing their booklets.

“It actually wasn’t that hard,” Anthony said. “They were simple problems.”