Students Aiding Leukemia Society

Matthew Myers, an after-school assistant at Acacia Elementary School in Thousand Oaks, is getting students all over the county to dig deep into their pockets to support Pennies for Patients, a fund-raiser for the Leukemia Society of America.

Myers, a 22-year-old Oak Park resident, said he feels a debt of gratitude to the organization that is seeking a cure for leukemia, the disease his sister Morgan was diagnosed with six months ago. “I want to give back to my community and give back to all that suffer from this disease.”

Myers began collecting money a month ago at Acacia, and the program quickly spread to many campuses in the Conejo Valley Unified School District.

“We had two little brothers who went door-to-door and collected $25 from the neighborhood,” said Jane Cooperman, the child-care leader at Acacia Elementary School.

Myers is collecting money from 18 schools in the district. Although he doesn’t know how much he has raised, Myers said he will leave the counting to the leukemia society.

The fund-raiser will soon start in Simi Valley, and Myers is talking to Las Virgenes Unified School District officials about Pennies for Patients.

Oak Park High School kicked off the fund-raiser on Monday and it will continue through Christmas break. At the school there are jars placed in 40 classrooms.

For more information on the fund-raising effort, call (805) 495-2448. For more information on the Leukemia Society of America, call (310) 348-5721.