Raising nearly $2,100 in just three weeks, the students at Niles McKinley High School joined with Olive Garden's Pasta for Pennies national fundraising program and three million other students throughout the United States to help support the fight against blood-related cancers.
Olive Garden, in partnership with The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and high school students, help raise money each year that will help fund important life-saving initiatives and provide critical services to patients and their families.
Breaking records every year since the program began in 1994, more than $53 million has been raised to fight these diseases.
''There were boxes in each classroom for the kids to deposit their change,'' said Niles teacher Brad Yeager.
Yeager's ninth grade physical science class were the top fundraising class in the high school, winning them a catered pasta lunch catered by the Niles Olive Garden Restaurant.
Yeager's class raised $371.42 in the friendly competition among the school's homerooms.
The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is the world's largest voluntary health agency dedicated to blood cancer. The LLS mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life for patients and their families. LLS funds lifesaving blood cancer research around the world and provides free information and support services.