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Elementary students send ‘penny prayers’ to Delphi families

ROSSVILLE, Ind. (WISH) — An elementary student is turning to coins, and prayers to help grieving Delphi families.

Right now, the wagon at Rossville Elementary is getting a workout. This week, students are using it to go classroom to classroom to collect coins.

An effort third grader, Keaden Thomas calls, “Penny Prayers.”

“Prayers starts with p and so does pennies,” Thomas said. “So I just came up with the penny prayers, but now we can just collect any kind of money.”

The drive is to help Abigail Williams and Liberty German’s family. Their bodies were found in Delphi, near a trail where they were last seen on last Monday.

So far, Thomas has raised a lot to help. On day one, Thomas’ classmates nearly filled a five pound bucket. “Heavier than me,” Thomas said.

The gesture is no surprise to Thomas’ principal, Chad Dennison. The school teaches its students the importance of showing kindness to others.

“My initial reaction was, wow,” Dennison said. “That he actually had the heart to want to reach out to help someone that I don’t even know.”

The nine year old does have something in common though, he’s lost some immediate family members. “I know how it feels when people die,” Thomas said. “It’s pretty sad.”

Which is why he’s delivering prayers along with each penny. “I feel sorry for them because they didn’t know it was going to happen,” Thomas said.

The original idea was to just collect coins at the school, but after posting it to social media the principal said “there was so much reaction, anyone is welcome to drop off change, or he’ll even pick it up.”

“Hopefully by the end of the week Keaden and I can go present a couple checks to Abby and Libby’s family,” Dennison said.

Proving it doesn’t matter if you’re ninety or nine, a small idea can go a long ways. “I think we’ve done a pretty good job of creating citizens, and understanding that we all have a role,” Dennison said.

A role Thomas is just happy to play a small part in. “It helps out a lot,” Dennison said.

The school is collecting coins until Thursday. If you’re interested in donating, the school’s address is, 1 Robert Egly Dr, Rossville, IN 46065.

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