R.I. students boost Olive Garden leukemia fundraiser

CRANSTON – Pasta for Pennies, an Olive Garden fund raiser that benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, raised more than $70,174 after about 18,262 students in Rhode Island donated their spare change.
Nationwide, the program has raised $10.1 million during the 2013-14 school year. Since 1994, students across the country have raised $90 million for the nonprofit. The funding helps pay for blood cancer research and provides services and support to leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma patients and their families.
“We are grateful for the outpouring of generosity that made this year’s Pasta for Pennies campaign such a success,” Deborah Watterson, campaign manager of the society’s Rhode Island chapter, said in a statement. “With the efforts of these students, parents and teachers, and with Olive Garden as a valued partner, we are able to move closer to our goal of a cure to end blood cancers.”
In Rhode Island, students at 34 elementary, middle and high schools filled collection jars and boxes in their classrooms with the coins over a three-week period. The top fundraising class at each school received a pasta party from a local Olive Garden restaurant.
The top fundraising schools in Rhode Island and their funding amounts include:

  • Cumberland High School, in Cumberland, $6,193.66;
  • Community Elementary School, in Cumberland, $5,232.28; and
  • Oak Lawn Elementary School, in Cranston, $3,300.38.

“The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is moving closer to a cure because of fundraising events like Pasta for Pennies,” Shannon Garcia, Olive Garden senior vice president of operations, said in prepared remarks. “These students and their teachers are making a difference in so many lives and we applaud their efforts.”
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is a health agency dedicated to coping with blood cancer. For more information, visit http://www.lls.org/.
Olive Garden has more than 800 Italian restaurants across the U.S. with more than $3.6 billion in annual sales.

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