Students raise $57G for 9/11 Museum

More than 200 schools in New York City and across Long Island raised $57,000 in a Penny Harvest drive in which students collected more than 5 million pennies and donated them to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

A group of 50 students, their parents and teachers met Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who congratulated them on their philanthropic endeavor Tuesday under the Survivor's Tree at the memorial.

Ten years ago, students participating in a similar Penny Harvest donated almost $1 million to help victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Schoolchildren were back this year raising pennies through bake sales, sporting events and even digging for buried pennies under cushions of their family's living room couches.

Will Kratina, 14, of W.T. Clarke Middle School in East Meadow, presented the mayor with hand soap decorated with a penny like those the students made and sold for a dollar each.

"We even had a round table where kids voted on where the money should go," said Kratina, the school's Penny Harvest student representative.

W.T. Clarke raised $4,000 this year through bake sales, a soccer tournament and the soap sales.

"We have 600 students in our school and we have our special-ed students organizing the Penny Harvest. It's a great way to immerse all our students and have them work together," said Debbie Marks, the school's special-education teacher.

Queens gym teacher Heather Gambesk of P.S. 88 in Oakdale, said their school doubled the amount of pennies they raised this year when students decided "the money would go to the 9/11 Memorial Museum."Fifth-grader, Lois Wu, 10, of P.S. 88 in Oakdale, said, "I was born the day before 9/11. I've been told stories about how it's a solemn day. Collecting pennies was a way to recognize 9/11 and understand its meaning," she said.

Lois said when the school decided to raise money for the memorial and museum "it motivated people to keep bringing in more pennies."

For 20 years, schools across the nation have been holding Penny Harvest fundraisers for charitable causes, said Teddy Gross, executive director of the nationwide group Common Cents.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center Foundation Inc. has raised $710 million to build the memorial and the museum. However, completion of the museum has been delayed by a cost-overrun dispute between the foundation and the Port Authority, which owned the World Trade Center and is managing construction of the museum. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the head of the Port Authority said Tuesday that both sides are close to a resolution.

Joe Daniels, the memorial and museum's president, said the drive could be "a reminder as to what is important -- to work together and get the project moving ahead."