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Watson students raise Pennies for Patients
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On March 2, Watson kicked off their Pennies for Patients fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The event was special to the kids at Watson because one of their own first-graders, Stevie Pateras (right), had Lymphoblastic Leukemia at the age of three. Stevie's dad, Air Force senior airman George Pateras, came to support his son during the March 2 event.
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Airman Jonathan Mells (right) was always willing to answer questions from the first graders about different kinds of change.
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .First-grade students Anthony Spear (left) and Moira George offered airman Anthony Duvall (right) lots of help during their April 1 coin-counting event.
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Going through Leukemia himself, Stevie Pateras was very happy to help count change for Watson’s fundraiser benefitting the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. Stevie’s classmates loved to offer their help. The group were, from left, Stevie Pateras, George Pateras, Jacob Perry, Autumn Taylor, Sierra Detwiler, and Gianna Panzott.
By SARAH FOOR
During the month of March, the students and staff at Watson Elementary started collecting a few pennies a day for the good of helping kids with leukemia. Although Watson supports various charities in many other projects, the “Pennies for Patients” for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society was particularly special for the school because they have a brave first-grade leukemia survivor.
Stevie Pateras found out he had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia when he was only 3 years old. By the end of an assembly on March 2, Pateras’ peers discovered he had received a lot of medicine and treatment for his leukemia, and is now in good health.
Patty Manning is Stevie’s first-grade teacher and also organized the Pennies for Patients Drive at Watson.
“We started this project with a fair estimate of what we could raise — $500 was our original goal,” Manning explained. “But I think that hearing about Stevie’s story changed everything. Celebrating Stevie and supporting one of our own made it grow into a really big project.”
By April 1, Manning had counted all the pennies from Watson staff and classrooms and a $200 collection at the Austintown Board office. All that was left to count was her own classroom’s funds.
To help the first-graders count coins, Air Force senior airman George Pateras, who also happens to be Stevie’s dad, stopped by the classroom along with his friends, Jonathan Mells, Anthony Duvall, and Shawn White, all from the Youngstown Air Reserve Station.
With the help of the soldiers, Manning found that the final donation to Pennies for Patients equaled $2,782.97 — very comfortably above their goal.
“I’m really thrilled with the participation,” George Pateras said on April 1. “Everyone in the school has been so supportive of Stevie — kids even asked for his autograph after the first assembly. I’m just happy he’s healthy, and that the school can give back to an organization that gave a lot to my family.”