Sixth grader Thomas Germanio is a very special young man - not because of an amazing arm in baseball or an ability to calculate pi to the 123rd decimal place, but because of the deep kindness of his heart.
Germanio recently took part in an annual fundraising drive held in the Dennis Township School District called Pennies for Patients.
Students get cardboard coin boxes where they collect spare change at home, from family or friends, and donate it to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
This year, Dennis Township raised over $1600 in the district, about $670 from the Primary School and about $940 from the Elementary/Middle Schools.
Germanio alone accounted for $241. He was the top fundraiser for this effort this year, as he has been since he started to participate in kindergarten.
"My Poppop taught me to be nice to other people and I've always liked helping people," Germanio says.
Despite heading into the turbulent tween- and teen-age years of middle school, Germanio plans to continue collecting Pennies for Patients and hopes to inspire others to think of others.
Organized by the Dennis Township Student Government, Pennies for Patients is run at the Elementary/Middle School by adviser Marni McCann and at the Primary School by nurse Courtney Herlihy.