×

Tygarts Valley students raise funds

Freshman Key Club member Tatum Wamsley, left, and sophomore Key Club President Alana Rennix encourage students to donate funds to the Penny War at Tygarts Valley High School.

MILL CREEK — Students at Tygarts Valley Middle/High School are battling it out in their first Penny War.

The Penny War is a fundraising event created by the Key Club at TVHS.

As part of the fundraiser, each class has its own penny jar, where students put in as many pennies as they can. Students from other grades can then place paper money or other coins in the jar, which cancels out however many pennies that amount is worth.

“It took them a couple days for them to get into it, and to realize that it is actually a war against each other,” advisor Betty Newsom said. “Now that they’ve gotten the gist of it they’re getting competitive.”

The class with the most “active” pennies at the end of the event will be the winner.

The event is headed up by Key Club President Alana Rennix and Key Club member Tatum Wamsley, who brought forward the idea for the event. The Penny War is also made possible with the help of Key Club advisors Betty Newsom, Karin Looney and Ramista Lanham.

Key Club is an international organization that focuses on public service and care for others, and encourages leadership skills among students. UNICEF, the March of Dimes, the Eliminate Project and the Children’s Miracle Network are the biggest partners in Key Club’s efforts.

“Key Club is the largest service organization for high-schoolers. It has been around a long time,” Rennix said. “It is a student-run organization. We have two advisers, but there are certain officers that do the positions and they’re completely in charge of everything.”

“The goal of the club is to help others,” she said. “It can be in your community, at your school and even world-wide.”

The Tygarts Valley chapter of Key Club participates in community service locally and statewide. Members have visited the Ronald McDonald House in Morgantown to help with numerous chores like cooking, laundry and cleaning.

“Last year we did Project Birthday Cake, which is where you fill a birthday gift bag with cake mix, frosting, candles and a card,” Rennix said. “Then we distributed those to food banks and churches in the area.”

The club also made non-slip socks for the elderly, which were each uniquely designed with colorful fabric paint. They hope to make baby blankets when they obtain the supplies, Rennix said.

TV Key Club organized a mission that prompted students and the community to gather plastic bottle caps for recycling. These bottle caps are used to provide free medical treatments to those unable to afford them. Gathering 50 plastic caps earns two minutes of dialysis, Wamsley said. With the community’s help, Key Club was able to provide a local teenager with 78 hours of free dialysis.

This year’s Penny War fund-raiser is the first of many more annual wars for TVMS and TVHS students, organizers said.

“We want to continue doing this event each year,” Looney said. “It is a good way to get people active because they want to win. We’re making a good amount of money so far.”

The number of Key Club members has recently gone up dramatically, officials said.

The Penny War was scheduled for the week of March 13, but because of school cancellations, it will continue into next week, Newsom said.

TV Key Club is also taking orders for Joe Cobi products to raise funds for their annual trip to the district convention in Morgantown, as well as their end of the year trip to Kennywood. For information or to order products, call the school at (304) 335-4575.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

Starting at $3.92/week.

Subscribe Today