Pennies for Patty
A Journal of Daniel Jones' very excellent idea and hard work - and a few updates on Patty's progress! |  October 24th: Check out the website at Daniel's school:
Corvallis Middle School |
It all started with an e-mail on July 12th:
Hi Kathi,
I was thinking last night how terrible it is that both Bill and Patty have had these medical expenses without insurance. I was trying to think of ways I could help to raise some money.
One thing I thought of was Pennies for Patty. Do you know that 25% of annual production of pennies end up in landfills. Just with my families business alone I could put out some cans and help turn pennies into $.
Let me know what you think. Rita & Daniel |
Wow! What a great idea!
And Pennies for Patty was born | July 12th: E-mails sent out to friends telling them about our Pennies for Patty Campaign
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Virtual Spaghetti Dinner for Patty |  | July 16th: From Rita: I received my first little bags of pennies and coins today. Of course it was from Daniel. He is really excited about this and has been watching the ground wherever he goes. Daniel decorates his first Pennies for Patty can. click here to see
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| | July 17th: More artwork by Daniel - Daniel did NOT know that Patty and Bill pray the rosary regularly!
Daniel has set his first goal as $100
One of Rita's coworkers decides that Pennies for Patty is a great project for her daughter's day care. |
| July 18th: From Rita: I went downstairs and Daniel had found a metal detector on the internet. So he bought it. He knew he was meant to have it because he had mowed my niece's lawn and had just enough money with .59 left over. He is so excited about it. So he will be the angel find lost pennies! |
July 19th: Pennies for Patty expands to South Carolina and TOPS. Margo's friend, Jacquie, watching all parking lots for change and stops using change to pay for items. Now she uses dollar bills, so she can add to the growing pile of pennies. And she empties her purse of all pennies immediately.
Margo decides to save pennies AND nickels. |
July 20th: Daniel counted up this week's pennies and he has $55.19!!!! Daniel creates another poster (pictured top left.)
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July 21st: Kathi discovers that their change jar is actually a growler from Bitterroot Brewing that she got when Bill and Patty visited them the first time. Clearly, the contents of the growler MUST be destined for Pennies for Patty!
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July 22nd: Margo finds a penny in the State vehicle she drives at work to add to her jar. Has momentary thought - is this stealing form the state? :)
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July 23rd: Pennies for Patty is growing. Daniel worked hard this weekend to make a few extra pennies. From washing Michael's truck to giving massages. He is up to $68. He has a lemonade stand planned for this weekend while we have our garage sale. It is so fun to watch him. I hope someday he can meet Patty. Because she has a very special place in his heart.
July 23rd: Kathi, I opened a book Mickey had given me for the Senior citizens. As is my usual procedure I glance at the titles, and put those aside that I might want to read before donating. These words leaped out at me: Small Miracles
Extraordinary Coincidences from Everyday Life
Yitta Halberstam and Judith Leventhal A common coincidence that I experience all the time is that I find pennies wherever I go. When When I enter a hotel for the first time and it's been freshly cleaned, vacuumed and spotless I can often count on finding a penny on the threshold. In the airport, a restaurant even sitting atop my luggage ,I'll suddenly spy one solitary penny. Now what does that mean? What does it say on a penny? "It's not the value of the money that's important, but its message, its wholeness - a reminder that God is directing my energies. God is here and I am on my path.
I hope the scrapbook you are working on for Patty gives her much pleasure and a warm fuzzy feeling that tells her people really do care. Put my name at the top of the list, -- or very near the top at least--of those who are praying for her. And, tell Daniel and Rita that I admire the fact that they are always ready to volunteer when there is a need. Have a great day. Love, Mom
July 26th: HOORAY!! Daniel met his first goal! Pennies for Patty is up to $115.69!! Riley and Daniel are making cookie and Lemonade to setup at the garage sale tomorrow. We are on our way to $200! |
  July 28th: Daniel and Riley sweated in the hot Montana heat at a garage sale selling lemonade and cookies in their Pennies for Patty campaign. Not only are they now over their $200 goal, but they shared stories and prayers and prayer chains with all the visitors. People all over with all kinds of their own crosses to bear will remember Patty and Daniel and Riley in their prayers. Now that's something to be proud of! |
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| July 29th: Daniel's cousins in New Mexico get into the act of collecting, counting and sorting pennies for Patty!   
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| July 30th: Norma thinks Daniel's story is so great that she wants to help too, and makes a Pennies for Patty jar for Valley Drug & Variety |
"Two are better off than one, because together they can work more effectively. If one of them falls down, the other can help him up. Two people can resist an attack that would defeat one person alone.
A rope made of three cords is hard to break" Ecclesiastes 4:9
I was crazy enough to have a garage sale on a full moon weekend. But what a wonderful blessing it has been. The scripture above is so true and a reminder of God's plan for us to work together and share our lifes. Not only did we purge a lot of stuff but we met some wonderful people a long the way. Daniel had made a sign and had his little bucket on the table for Pennies for Patty. Friday and Saturday was filled with wonderful people that had stories to share. Several people stayed for 20-30 minutes and several came back. We met people from Texas, California, S Carolina, Idaho, New Jersey not to mention several neighbors that we had never met. It is amazing how God works. God brings us together to share our lives and our experiences with people that we don't even know. One lady shared that her daughter had breast cancer and had found out that Avon will give qualified patients money towards their meds. So I was looking it up on the internet and found another site cancercare.org. This site has a lot of information on professional support and also financial support for those that qualify. So please share this site with your family and friends. We also heard some wonderful stories about pennies. One to share was about a local gentleman that went to purchase a $40,000 truck with pennies! Another lady was looking through her purse to donate some pennies and she mentioned to Daniel that she was saving the new quarters for her son that is in the Air Force and will be leaving for Iraq. She was only missing Idaho. So Daniel looked through his Pennies for Patty bucket and there was an Idaho quarter. How cool was that! Pennies for Patty is over $200 and still growing. So not only did we share stories we shared prayer chains.  This picture will just make you smile and wonder.
Click on the photo to see it. I want to go camping with Daniel's family. They have wildlife fun! |
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 August 5th: Scra p booking day and what a blast!
Sydonia brought an entire bottle of change and very carefully counted it.
Way to go, Syd!
The bank agreed with your number...
to the penny. . .Amazing coincidences during scrabooking. I had been looking high and low for a specific picture of Patty to share with Daniel. All to no avail. But as I pulled out supplies for scrap booking, I found the exact photo album that I had searched for - the one with Patty's picture from Christmas 1994. There was even a duplicate of one picture that I got to pass along to Daniel. What a perfect start to the day. And as we all worked to prepare the perfect scrap book for Patty - that could include our first donation check for her we also discovered that we each had complimentary materials - not a single duplication in the bunch!
Later that day, a message from Rita...
Daniel was very excited about the picture of Patty he received. Did you say it was from 1994? Because that is the year Daniel was born. He got another bag of pennies from Big Dave and my Uncle Al also brought him a box of pennies. |
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| August 9th: Daniel makes his first deposit to the bank with Pennies for Patty DANIEL RAISED MORE THAN $300 HIMSELF, AND HE IS STILL EAGER TO HELP PATTY AS LONG AS POSSIBLE.
Daniel is an AWESOME young man. All his hard work and he has never even met Patty. Wow! From Rita - I forgot to tell you that your Mom sent me a beautiful little angel. That was so sweet of her. Daniel also loved the pennies. We will put them in his Pennies for Patty scrapbook. From Margo Fox - when the TOPS members found about about Mom and Jacquie's efforts in Pennies for Patty, they all emptied their pockets, too.
Hey Daniel, more pennies are on their way form Margo, Jacquie and the TOPS group. |
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It's not too late to donate to Pennies for Patty and our Virtual Spaghetti Dinner.
Here's how to help Patty with her medical bills |
| August 11th: Happy Birthday, Patty! Our scrap book and first check for medical bills is on its way to Patty and Bill. Can you believe that I forgot to take a picture of the scrap book?! Duh?! Thank you for your prayers and for your donations! |
| August 13th: Good news/bad news. Patty's surgery has been rescheduled from the 16th to the 23rd. We know that God has a really good reason for the delay. Now we just have to learn to be patient a little while longer. Easy enough for us, probably anything but easy for Bill and Patty. |
August 14th: The scrap book and first check arrived safely. And since it was a Holy Day, Bill and Patty wanted each of you to know that they prayed for all their prayer, penny and donation angels.
Thank you so very much! Please keep those prayers coming! |
| August 15th: Even the lady at the bank thinks Daniel is pretty darn special - we received the deposit slip in the mail with a note of Kudos for Daniel and his efforts. " What a great kid for his efforts, Cheryl" - what a great keepsake for Daniel - and proof once more that the folks at Ravalli County Bank really are special! |
| August 16th: Rita and Daniel went to the landfill - guess what they found? pennies and even some quarters! And Grandma Jones' collection of pennies resulted in $10 more for the efforts! |
| August 17th: I shared a picture of Daniel with Norma at Valley Drug and we both decided that we should laminate it and put it with his Pennies for Patty collection jar. We left the photo beside the jar while we waited on customers. We were at work after all! A few minutes later a customer came in and asked why there was a picture of her cousin on the counter. So Norma and I got to tell the wonderful story of Daniel's Pennies for Patty. Of course Melora cleaned out her purse of pennies! What fun to be able to share stories of Patty and Daniel with a new friend! |
| August 20th: Mom went to her TOPS meeting - and can you believe it - those wonderful women all emptied their purses of change for Patty - AGAIN. They are truly wonderful people! We are blessed. |
PLEASE DONATE YOUR PRAYERS on August 23rd
for successful surgery for Patty |
| August 23rd: A long day for everyone, but miracle of miracles, the surgeon thinks that he got all of the pancreatic mass, and all of the multiple masses on Patty's liver. The latter ended up being quite superficial and easy to remove. What a wonderful answer to our prayers. Patty rests quietly in ICU and is doing well. |
| August 25th: Received a check for pennies for Patty from Margo Fox (Kathi's mom). $20 came from the wonderful women at TOPS and $6 represent Margo's winnings at Bunko. So Margo's current dilemma... is it wrong to use "gambling" winnings to help Patty out? Just kidding! |
| August 26th: Patty is moved out of ICU and is doing well. Yay! Thanks to all who have prayed and are continuing to pray. Patty's great progress is certainly proof of the power of prayer. |
| August 27th: The folks at Valley Drug & Variety in Stevensville have been incredibly generous - so many strangers and anonymous well-wishers... who don't even know Patty! (Thank you, Norma, for putting out collection buckets.) It was great fun to deposit $102.94 in honor of Patty and her 13-year-old friend, Daniel, who thought all of this up. |
| Patty continues to do well and we hope that she will be home in just a few days. It will be a long period of recuperation, but the wonderful news is that the test results from surgery show NO CANCER in her lymph nodes and clear margins at all her operative sites. Your prayers and support are doing wonders. We never dreamed of such fantastic news. Thank you so much for your prayers. |
August 28th: Daniel is busy not only with Pennies for Patty, but in getting his pig, Big Red, ready for the fair. Tom's brother John and his wife Margie from California had to go to Wyoming last week for a funeral. The Jones family met up with them in Bozeman for lunch. Daniel shared his story of Pennies for Patty. They donated $10 to his fund. Thank you, John and Margie!
Daniel feeding Red Bull watermelon:  (Click on photo for a better view) |
| August 29th-Sept.3rd: Daniel and Red Bull enjoy the Ravalli County Fair. Red Bull won a red ribbon and Daniel won a blue ribbon for showmanship. Daniel also won the Most Sportsmanship award. No surprise to those of us who know him - he is always helpful, polite and positive. I think we have really astute judges at the fair! Congratulations Daniel! Click on the photos below for pictures of Daniel at the Ravalli County Fair.   
And After the Fair - a little nap time with friends, while waiting for his fellow hunters 
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| Sept. 6th: Almost 2 months since Daniel started his Pennies for Patty Campaign. Daniel and Patty still haven't met, but they are looking forward to it one day soon! |
| Sept. 12th: The Ravalli Republic newspaper published an article about Daniel and his efforts: Read all about it at http://www.ravallirepublic.com/articles/2007/09/12/news/news01.txt |
Sept. 26th: Daniel's teacher started Kids Who Make a Difference, a program to let kids know that they can make a difference in their world. Daniel made the first bulletin board presentation - and Daniel's teacher is letting Daniel put a Pennies for Patty can in their classroom! How cool is that?!  |
October 21st: We came home to a phone message from Sandra Seig, a friend and member of our Parish who divides her time between Montana and California. Sandra had seen the collection container on the counter at Valley Drug. It turns out that Sandra and her California friends formed a group called the Green Angels. They provide assistance to cancer patients and Sandra will contact their treasurer, so that a check can be sent to Patty. So Sandra is our newest prayer and gift angel.
Thanks to Daniel's efforts, another 10,000 pennies are on their way to Patty. Thank you, Green Angels! |
| October 24th: Check out the posting about Daniel at Corvallis Middle School: Dan's the Man at CMS |
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This picture will just make you smile and wonder. 
(Click on photo for a better view)
