The Student Government’s annual Penny Drive has started once again, and this year, the money is going to Holden Eckman’s family. Holden Eckman is a one and a half year old boy who is fighting leukemia. He is in need of a bone marrow transplant.  Holden’s mother and grandfather are the Varsity Girls Basketball coaches. 

The Student Government organizes the Penny Drive each year. The Penny Drive will run until Dec. ninth, and the winning house will get hot chocolate and cookies before Christmas break. The four houses will compete against each other during the Penny Drive and they will get one point for each positive dollar they raise. Pennies and dollar bills will be counted as positive money while silver coins count as negative money.

The Penny Drive has been going on for twenty years all together. The Green Leopards are currently winning the Penny Drive and they won last year as well.

“My second son Mike was a preemie. [The first year] we sent the money to the hospital where he was born, Transitional Infant Care, is who we sent the money to. It’s a non-profit hospital for premature babies and so, once my son got out of it I started the Penny Drive to help raise money for other families in that hospital,” Mr. Culler, head of the Student Government group, said. Last year, a total of $800 was raised from the Penny Drive.

The Penny Drive has helped many  Freedom Families in the past, and it will continue to do so in the future.