Students declare a penny war

Large plastic water jugs containing coins and dollars, some holding more copper than silver and green, sat upon the folding tables lining the walkway in front of the Student Union.

As part of homecoming week, the Penny Wars event raised a grand total of $2970 to be donated to the Children's Miracle Network on the Student Union patio on Thursday.

Each of the 20 student organizations involved exhibited school spirit and a philanthropic desire to help raise money for a good cause.

The charity event was made into a competition by implementing the general concept of a "penny war."

The idea is that, while all the money goes to the same place in the end, one organization will win based on a points scale.

The points are based on the amount of money in the jug; each coin or dollar is worth its monetary value in cents. For example, a quarter denotes 25 negative points. Only the pennies count as positive points toward the group's total.

One student caught up in the energy of the event had donated to several of the organizations participating in the Penny Wars.

"I think it is a great cause," said Carly Romano, a junior advertising and public relations, and graphic design major. "It puts an interesting spin on a charity event to have groups compete for the coins of lesser value. I am just glad that it is bringing people out to donate either way."

Competition ran high among many of the students. One group, Forever Knights, said they had a very simple plan of attack. They had a Ziploc bag full of quarters and dollars to add to other organizations' jugs at the end of the event to decrease their point value.

Another group, the D20 Knights, a tabletop gaming club, said that they didn't really care if they won. They just wanted to raise money for the kids and to get the word out about their student group. This table attracted donations and passers-by by simply calling out, "We accept silver!"

The winners of the Penny Wars were announced Sunday at the Homecoming Banquet, according to Charles DiNuzio the student director of the homecoming committee.

Tied for third place were Kappa Delta and Phi Delta Theta, and in second place was Phi Sigma Pi. The winners tied for first place were Alpha Xi Delta, Delta Upsilon and Sigma Pi. These were the student organizations that raised the most "positive" money, or pennies, during the charity event. 

The event concluded around 4 p.m., and that is when the counting began. According to DiNuzio, the Knight-thon and homecoming committee executives were in charge of counting each jug by hand. This proved to be a long process that didn't end until nearly 11 p.m.

"There was a lot of random, foreign change in there—we put it in a separate jug," said DiNuzio late Thursday night after the final count was done.

The Penny Wars proved to be successful in its goal of raising money for the Children's Miracle Network, which was the bottom-line. It is a homecoming tradition that has been held every year for at least the past four years, according to DiNuzio. The Penny Wars is an event that will be a staple of homecoming week for years to come.