Students at Turtle Bay and Manzanita Elementary have been working hard raising money for to find a cure for cystic fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis is a fatal genetic disease that causes life-threatening lung infections and premature death. In the United States alone, the disease afflicts 30,000 people.
The schools are having "Penny Wars" to raise money. Students bring in spare change to their class room and then compete to see who can collect the most change.
Jeannine Klein is the one that came up with the idea. Cystic fibrosis is something close to her heart since her 9-year-old daughter was diagnosed with it at 6 weeks old.
"It causes thick mucus in the lungs and the digestive system. My daughter, like many kids with CF, [doesn't] digest [her] food well,"said Klein.
Even though medicine has come a long way, a cure still hasn't been found.
"Thirty years ago, kids were lucky to live to be in kindergarten," said Klein. "Now, their life expectancy is around 36, but I’m 36 and I don't think that's enough of a life."
Each classroom has a "Penny Wars" jar, where students dump their collected donations and to win you have to make sure that other classes don't beat your class.
"To sabotage another class you would put silver in there and to raise money for your class you put pennies in yours,”said Olivia Pimentel, a student at Turtle Bay.
"I think it’s important to like remember also we're trying to find a cure too,"said Turtle Bay student Abigail Moore.
Many students are also preparing for the cystic fibrosis Great Strides walk in Redding Saturday. The walk will be at the Sundial Bridge on Sat., Sept. 28. Check-in for the walk is at 9 a.m., the walk starts at 10:30 a.m. For more information you can visit cff.org.