Penny Wars donations add up to $4,070 for World Vision

With the help of Marina resident Julie Schaffer, pennies turned into dollars during this year's Penny Wars at Monte Vista Christian School in Watsonville.

Easily exceeding their goal of $3,000, the high school students raised a total of $4,070 to give to World Vision (Women of Vision Monterey Bay) to help the village of M'Kawa in Malawi, Africa. M'Kawa is one of the poorest villages in an area stricken by the AIDS pandemic.

Schaffer, an Interact Club co-president, helped head up the fundraising effort.

Students put coins into the bucket of the class they wanted to win, which added points to that class. They could also put paper money into the bucket of the class they didn't want to win, which subtracted points from that class.

At the end, the senior class triumphed with the highest number of points. (Salinas Californian, 12/28/2007)