Valley View Elementary penny drive leads to free books

BONNERS FERRY — After a successful penny drive, Valley View Elementary students received $10 to purchase a book at the Book Fair.

The Penny drive competition took place in March as a way to fundraise for the purchase of books. Each classroom had a jar that represented a little bank. Only pennies counted toward the classroom’s total. Classrooms could sabotage other classes by putting silver coins into their jars.

Second-graders won overall and received a pizza party.

After a week, students had raised $1,507. Community members donated money as well totaling approximately $1,800. This allowed the 425 students at Valley View to receive $10 for a book.

HollyAnne Baisden, librarian at Valley View, said this Book Fair was special since the penny drive fundraiser allowed students that typically wouldn’t purchase books the option to do so.

Having $10 per student really made a difference since $5 doesn’t get very far as it did in the past, Baisden said. She said, all week students were super excited to come to the Book Fair and pick out a new book during their library time.