Clarksville school shows depth of its caring with Penny Wars fundraiser

 
  Benefiting Clarksville School families who lost loved ones in 2016 and the Clarksville Food Pantry with change from the holiday Penny War style fundraiser was the chosen focus of the Clarksville Community School Positive Behavior Intervention System Committee.
  "Most importantly, remember that in the spirit of the Christmas season, the purpose of our Penny War is to raise as much money as we can to help members of our immediate school families in need," Mrs. Tonya Poppe, school counselor and Positive Behavior committee member, wrote for students and staff on Dec. 7.
  Homerooms in grades seven through 12 participated in the fundraiser.
  The amount of donations to the fundraiser, which occurred the school week of Dec. 12-Dec. 16, 2016, surpassed expectations.
  "It's just so overwhelmingly refreshing to know that our students and staff stepped forward to collect coins and funds for needy families," Bob Saathoff, secondary-level principal, said.
  The committee had hoped for a few hundred dollars, and more than $2,000 was collected, Saathoff said. 
  On Wednesday night, Dec. 21, this gift of the community's caring was shared among three Clarksville School families who lost loved ones during 2016 — See also:
 
Part 2 (in memory of Cheyenne Keeling),

 
Part 3 (in memory of Henry Gray) and

 
Part 4 (in memory of Bruce Freerks).

 
  (Numbering is based solely on the order in which the families were visited.) The other part of the donation went to the Clarksville Food Pantry.
  Edit 4:45 p.m.: The elementary presented its own collection of funds for the Food Pantry at a morning assembly on Thursday, Dec. 22.