Reaching out and helping the victims of Hurricane Katrina is what began
a “Penny War” in the CMU Charter Schools Office.

To raise money for hurricane victims, the office split into two
teams (red and  blue) to raise more than $600 for the American Red
Cross.

Melissa Bussear, an administrative aid for Charter Schools and the
chairman of the new activities committee, brought the idea of a
Hurricane Katrina benefit to members of the office’s new activities
committee to get it approved.

Funding began Sept. 6 and ended on Friday. Out of approximately 45
people, they were able to raise exactly $612.33.

Bussear said initially there wasn’t a goal for the foundation.

“Not when we started,” she said. “When we were close to the end, we
set a goal for $550 and we surpassed that.”

Most of the staff were surprised by the outcome of the Penny War. It
was able to bring some fun into the office and display their feelings
toward the victims of hurricane Katrina.

“Our staff has really compassionate, warm-hearted people and we
wanted to reach out to the victims, especially after seeing school
children,” said Angie Irwin, special adviser for External Relations in
the office of Charter Schools.

Deb Birkam, executive director of the Central Michigan Chapter of
the American Red Cross, was presented with a check on Monday and gave a
speech to the staff about the community efforts in helping the victims
of Katrina.

The local Red Cross chapter has been blessed with $120,000 in
donations.

“We’ve set a goal of $2 billion and we’re not even close,” Birkam
said. “We also have individual donations that have been made through
our Web site or donating through our local chapter.”

The money donated goes to the victims on a client assistant card
after they have been sheltered, fed and moved to a different
geographical area. So far, 22 families have resided in Isabella County
and most of them want to stay, she said.

Donations can be made online at www.centralmichigan.redcross.org or
sent to the Central Michigan Chapter of the Red Cross, 215 East
Broadway St. in Mount Pleasant.

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