MOORPARK : Penny Drive to Help Feed Needy

It wasn’t pennies from heaven, but the hundreds of thousands of pennies that rained into collection jars at every Moorpark school this holiday season will help bring a lot of hope to people in need.

Organized by the Moorpark High School Key Club, the penny drive raised $1,770.14. The money was handed over Friday to the local chapter of Catholic Charities in the form of food scrip--paper certificates with specific monetary value that can be used for food at the local Hughes Market.

The students from the club set out the jars at schools throughout the district and collected them when full. After sorting out a large wad of dollar bills from the piles of pennies, club members bagged the coins and trudged over to Simi Valley Bank, where the coins were sorted and counted.

“We can see from that big stack of bills that we can make a difference,” club President Chori Folkman, 17, said after the fat bundle of food scrip was handed over to Ruben Castro from Catholic Charities.

As part of the exchange, Hughes Market will give back to the school about 5% of the money spent on the scrip. Part of that will be used by the club and the rest will go toward school scholarships.