Pennies for Patients is a school fundraising program where students collect cash and coins in order to support leukemia research, awareness and patient support. Pennies for Patients was a large event that raised thousands of dollars for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). But now, most students aren’t even aware that the program exists.
The goal of Pennies for Patients is to provide an opportunity for WJ students to help their community. It is an important program for WJ students because it allows them to participate in something greater than themselves. Even a small monetary donation made a big difference in the long-run, with WJ raising $448,964.51 over the past 10 years.
Fundraising for Pennies for patients was hosted by WJ leadership. The fundraiser had small events in which students could participate in. Events like the Burrito Mile, carnival, and Pong have raised thousands of dollars for LLS. Pong is a tournament style of two teams competing against each other by throwing ping pong balls inside a cup. The burrito mile combines speed-eating a large burrito while running four 400m laps of a track.
Glo was a “rave”or dance event hosted by WJ leadership in order to raise money for the charity. Dances like Glo helped raise $13,000+ alone. These events gave students an incentive to participate because they included fun activities for a greater cause.
“It’s a really good program in that we can come together as a school to raise money for a great cause,”
senior Allison Radac, member of leadership of 2010 said. “The society helps fund research and it directly helps families, as well as work closely with kids.”
That year their goal was to raise $16,373.33 and they more than met it with $17,000. The event was tied to the Winter Dance, the predecessor of Glo.
Pennies for Patients being tied to Glo and other events elevated the excitement and participation. A lack of direct link to something bigger could be the cause of unawareness and lack of participation in the present school atmosphere. Due to this, the amount of money raised changed significantly as well.
In the last Pennies for Patients in 2024, the highest amount of donations was $200 with the Burrito Mile. In the 2015 event, WJ Bachelors raised $1,580 from just that event alone.
Pennies for Patients is important because leukemia is not only a worldwide issue, it’s found in our community as well, with over 31,000 Marylanders diagnosed with various cancers annually. Pennies for Patients gives support for patients, families and research.
A student in 2009 became a dedicated fundraiser after having her own story dealing with her grandmother dealing with cancer. Pennies for Patients was a way that she could help those in the same situation.
Now in the 2025-2026 school year, there’s a severe lack of participation and involvement from the school students. There’s a lack of awareness on where to donate and how to provide support. On the WJ website, Pennies for Patients has not been updated since the senior class of 2020.
However, Pennies for Patients did have efforts to continue on. In 2020, there was an effort to continue Pennies for Patients but it was limited due to Covid. In 2022, there was an in person event which helped raise a decent amount of money.
Since 2022, Pennies for Patients hasn’t been able to recover its popularity and success from previous years. WJ has gotten bigger and bigger, leading to a great rise in the amount of events which could account for the overshadowing of the fundraiser, or less leadership emphasis.
Without events like Glo bringing the school together, there is less incentive to donate to Pennies for Patients. There is also a lack of activities in Pennies for Patients, things like the carnival (2013),
or previous events like giving a penny to stick the principal to a wall, are all fun incentives that are no longer available.
Walter Johnson High school has historically been one of the highest contributors of Pennies for Patients, but since the pandemic, we have not been able to get back to that status.
