Students at Ebenezer Middle School participated in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Pennies for Patients program, sponsored by EMS’s Beta Club and student council.

This program helps those who contribute to develop compassion and learn the value of helping others. All kinds of money were accepted during the two weeks the program was run from March 1-15. EMS’s grand total was an astounding $4,358.

EMS was chosen to help raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society because of one of its former students, John Michael Osborne. He was diagnosed on Jan. 5, 2005, with acute myloid leukemia.

To students who participate in Pennies for Patients, he said, “I used to raise money for LLS when I was much younger, even before I got leukemia. I never knew the life I was helping to save would be my own.”

Since 1993, millions of dollars have been raised by millions of grade school students nationwide for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. During the 2005-2006 school year, 13 million students from 18,500 schools nationwide raised over $15 million through School & Youth Programs. Since it began, these programs have raised almost $100 million, making them the third largest fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

In Georgia alone, over half a million students raised almost $400,000 during the 2005-2006 school year.