Stimson Penny Wars Sets Food Record

Stimson students from the Pennywars winning homeroom
 with their teacher Ms.Terry Haas (standing far left) at TD Bank.

The Stimson community added up more than just pennies this year. In addition to the annual Penny Wars event, Stimson Assistant Principal Mr. Anthony Sansotta last year added a food drive component that truly showed the spirit of the Stimson community. “Penny Wars has grown so much in the past few years, thanks to the leadership and vision of Mr. Sansotta,” said Stimson Principal Ms. Faye Robins.

“The generosity of our students and their families continues to amaze me,” said Mr. Anthony Sansotta. “Despite these difficult economic times, our students once again raised over $3500. This brings our 5-year total to just over $18,000.”

For the first time in Penny Wars history, the winner was not from the 300 wing at the South Huntington Middle School. The winning homeroom (Room 106), with 108,392 points, was headed by Ms. Haas, who took her students on a trip to TD Bank to run all the coins through their coin sorter. Ms. Goldberg’s homeroom ran a close second, with 93,634 points. “I was so proud of how well my students worked together,” said Ms. Haas. “It was the amount of food they brought in that made us win this year.” The winning homeroom selected two charities to which to contribute a portion of their winnings: St. Jude Childrens’ Hospital and the Last Hope Animal Rescue Center in Huntington. Close to 2,000 food items were collected schoolwide, many of which will be used to make up Thanksgiving baskets to be distributed to needy neighbors in the community. The balance of the food items will be delivered to the St. Hugh’s Outreach Program to help restock their food pantry in Huntington Station.

“Mr. Sansotta has done an outstanding job of getting the kids motivated and excited and instilling a sense of community spirit and helping others, which is something our school focuses on regularly,” said Ms. Robins.

“The best thing about Penny Wars is that everyone wins,” said Mr. Sansotta. “The students get to have some fun while they learn about strategy and teamwork, and the community benefits from the money and food the effort provides.” The community spirit exhibited by the Stimson family will be felt throughout Huntington during this Thanksgiving holiday.