Monday’s lesson for students representing dozens of metro-area schools: It takes just 25 cents to make the world a better place, starting with a hot breakfast for homeless children.
“I was going to buy a horse, but I see people on the street who don’t even have food, so I changed my mind,” said Isabelle Duhot, a fifth-grader at Rolling Hills Elementary School in Aurora. She donated her entire savings of $100 to Quarters For Kids, a philanthropic program founded by Noel and Tammy Cunningham, owners of Strings Restaurant.
Duhot was among 125 students and teachers treated to breakfast Monday at Strings.
“Feeding all the homeless is overwhelming,” Noel Cunningham explained.
“But it only costs $1.50 to give a homeless child a nutritious breakfast. That’s six quarters. That’s manageable.”
That’s so manageable that Douglas County’s Crest Hill Middle School students raise $4,500 for Quarters For Kids program. Now in its 17th year, Quarters For Kids students have collected hundreds of thousands of dollars, a quarter at a time, to help their homeless counterparts.
The contributions arrived in piggy banks, jars, shopping bags and giant checks, totalling about $50,000, including corporate sponsor donations, Cunningham said.
The cash poured noisily through the funnel of a giant transparent cube will go to feed children at the Brandon Center for Battered Women, the Samaritan House of Denver, and Catholic Charities’ homeless shelters.
By sponsoring Gum Day – teacher-sanctioned gum-chewing at one quarter per piece – and Slipper Day allowing slippers to substitute for shoes, Isabelle’s class contributed $340 to the $2,400 total raised by Rolling Hills Elementary.
Students at Blessed Sacrament School collected $385 by paying for a one-day privilege of skipping school regalia.
“Wearing jeans, you have extra fun,” explained DeJanae Quarles, age 7, who wore her Blessed Sacrament uniform to Strings.
Other popular fundraisers included bake sales and pizza parties, class competitions and teacher dares.
Douglas County Spanish teacher Jennifer Pedersen’s dare she offered to do an abdominal crunch for every quarter donated left her looking good, and her Spanish students with a collection of $519.05. How many crunches is that?
“Two thousand and seventy six,” a taut-stomached Pedersen replied, allowing that she donated “a couple spare crunches” for the extra nickel.
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reached at 303-954-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com
