Elwood Middle School students in Erica Giordano’s community service club counted piles of pennies, dimes, quarters and nickels as part of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Pennies for Patients campaign on Feb. 4.

The fundraiser is a service-learning program that encourages young students to raise money to fight childhood cancer. This initiative seeks to accelerate treatments so that young cancer patients can not only survive, but thrive for generations to come.

After collecting funds for three weeks, the middle school students easily exceeded their goal of $700, Ms. Giordano said. Depending on the amount of money raised by each of the school’s six teams, students received “hero gear,” including “hero squad” silicone bracelets and rings, keychains and t-shirts.

At the meeting, the students also designed Valentine’s Day cards to be delivered to veterans at the Northport VA Medical Center on Feb. 14.