Coin wars, part of the fundraising efforts for Jack Emery, ran from Nov. 10 to Dec. 5. For three weeks, students could donate any coins or cash they had on hand to their class jugs located in front of the theater. In total, the event raised $1,067, ASB President Natasha Lacuzong said in an email.
Coin wars is a class competition held every year, senior class vice president Kaylee Ladle said. Each class has a water jug in which students can donate coins to their class bucket or cash to other class’s buckets, Ladle said. The class of 2029 won this year’s competition with a total of 4822 points, according to the MHS Trojans Instagram account.
“Any member of each graduating class can donate coins to their class bucket, and that adds points to their overall score, whereas if people were to donate chas in dollar bills, it would subtract the amount of points they have,” Ladle said.
Each cent is equal to a point, and the points each class earns through the coin wars are added to the class’s points for Trojan Olympics, sophomore class president Zaed Shahid said.
“We change the jars every week,” Shahid said. “And so every week we seem to fill up the jars. And it’s great. A lot of people come out, and they’re really in it for the competition. But in the end, they know it’s for a good cause. So we have been getting a lot of donations.”
The main goal of the coin wars is to try to raise awareness for Jack Emery and encourage students to donate, Shahid said. Seeing other students donating coins encourages other students to do the same, he added.
“Because, of course, pennies may not contribute too much money-wise, but you see people giving coins, it kind of makes you go out of your way and kind of think about, ‘Oh, maybe I should donate, right?’” Shahid said. “Because now a lot of people have coins on them. And then also, I think adding the cash just also makes it a lot easier for people.”
Coin wars is fun because it generates a class battle and class spirit between each of the classes, Ladle said.
“I think in a whole sense of Jack Emery, I think it’s good to provide for our community, and that’s what we’re trying to do with all these little activities that we host during the season,” Ladle said.
The Milpitas Food Pantry, where the Jack Emery proceeds go to, emphasizes that they would prefer monetary donations rather than canned food donations, Ladle said. The food pantry knows everything that the community needs, and only donating cans would limit what food they are able to provide to the community, she added.
“It’s more likely that they can do things with money rather than cans, so I think that’s what we get,” Ladle said.
Jack Emery is important for the local food pantry because it is one of the largest donations they receive, Lacuzong said.
“It’s really important to them, and that makes it really important to us because we’re just trying to give,” Lacuzong said. “And then, a simple monetary donation is all they really need. They’re just trying to spread their kindness and keep people sheltered.”
