This year's Nichole Stock Penny Drive contributions to the Variety Club Show of Hearts Telethon are looking great, with over $6,600 raised so far.
"We're still getting them in," Lake Cowichan Seniors' Centre manager Bruce Bunting said, of the copper coins. "We can still roll them."
Volunteers at the Seniors’ Centre have already started rolling the coins, and have plans of rolling more before the fund-raiser wraps up next week, in advance of the February 12 to 13 telethon.
The challenge now, is to get over the $7,000 mark, Bunting said.
This is the first year the Lake Cowichan Seniors' Centre has taken over the penny drive, after the local Stock family chose, for personal reasons, to hand the responsibility over to them.
The fund-raiser is named after young volunteer Nichole Stock, who started the penny drive in 1991 to raise money for sick kids.
Nichole herself underwent numerous heart surgeries over her short life, dying in 1999 as a result of related medical problems. The community has kept her spirit and goodwill alive through the penny drive – this year's being the 20th annual.
Once the Variety Club Show of Hearts Telethon rolls past, you don't have to wait until next January to begin dropping off pennies, Bunting said.
"We can still put pennies in the bank," he said. "It's an all-year thing."
If anyone would like a penny-collection jar for their business, for their jar to be picked up, or for other fund-raising questions, Bunting can be contacted at 749-6121, before 3 p.m. on week-days.