FMF’s pennies boost fundraising goal
Stephanie Burr
Staff writer
January 28, 2008
Stephanie Burr
Lookout
Shop 122, Fleet Maintenance Facility workers (from left) Karl Renner, Mark Perkins, Rob Bethell, Scott Ticknor, and Matt Hood rally around the 170 pounds of pennies they raised for 13-year-old Jeneece Edroff’s Variety, the Children’s Charity campaign.
As the Greater Victoria United Way Campaign came to a close, Fleet Maintenance Facility Cape Breton (FMF CB) workers in the shipwright shop 122 didn’t have to look far for the next worthy cause. They, like most people, had heard of Jeneece Edroff and her penny drive and decided to join her fund-raising efforts.
“It is such a great chance to help kids in need, and with so many people in the shop we knew we could raise enough to make a difference,” says Scott Ticknor, a joiner in shop 122. “Jeneece’s hard work was very inspiring and humbling. Her dedication spurred us on and, thanks to everyone’s effort, we’ve raised close to $300 in change.”
Jeneece is a 13-year-old girl from Saanich who suffers from Neurofibromatosis, a rare condition that causes tumours to grow along her nervous system. Despite her illness, Jeneece has collected pennies for Variety, the Children’s Charity for seven years, and has raised almost $800,000, with a goal to raise $1 million.
“She’s very dedicated and we really wanted to help her cause. Communities all over the Island have been pitching in and with such a large staff here we quickly made progress in helping her reach her goal,” says Ticknor.
FMF CB workers began their fund-raising efforts by simply throwing the change from their morning coffees into a few empty cups. Their project quickly gained momentum.
“We saw Jeneece on the news and once we learned about how she was collecting pennies for Variety, the Children’s Charity campaign, we started collecting our spare pennies in coffee cups around the shop,” says Ticknor. “The coffee cups filled up fast, so we switched to Tupperware containers, and once they were full someone started filling up a five gallon water jug and now we’re onto our second jug.”
To figure out the amount of money in the first jug, FMF workers weighed a pound of pennies and then counted how many cents were in a pound.
“The jug weighs 170 pounds so we had to use a crane to lift it onto a digital scale,” says Ticknor. “We’ll be taking it into somewhere like A Channel to donate it pretty soon. But even though this one’s full we’re still going to keep the penny drive going here in the shop.”
Shop 122 workers would like to challenge the rest of base to beat their total.
“The base has so many people working on it and we know they all have at least a few pennies in their pockets they don’t need,” says Ticknor. “So we’re putting it out there to everyone to try and at least match our total. We want them to put a penny pot out and see how it goes, and when it gets full they can wander down here or give us a call and we’ll take it to Jeneece. I think if even a few people can get behind this campaign with us, we have a good chance at helping that little girl meet her $1 million goal.”
