Saint David’s Celebrates 20-year Partnership with The Seeing Eye, Successful “Pennies for Puppies” Campaign

Saint David's partnership with The Seeing Eye is an integral service-led component of our fourth grade curriculum. This spring, the longstanding tradition of the school's participation in the "Pennies for Puppies" service project celebrated its 20th anniversary, a proud milestone. The project was initiated by a parent, the late Connie Hays, whose son Henry was in fourth grade at the time. This year, in beginning the project, and with the homeroom leadership of Ms. Germann, Mr. Hughes, and Mrs. Molinari, our boys learned about the Seeing Eye Foundation, an organization that breeds, raises, and trains Seeing Eye dogs to help guide blind people - with the goal to help them move around as safely and independently as possible.

After becoming more familiar with the goals and work of the foundation, our boys participated in a Read-A-Thon. During this fundraiser, students recorded the total number of pages they read both in and outside of school each day. Readers raised money by asking family and friends for "Pledge per Page" or "Set Donation" contributions. Each student would then store a paper copy of their log in their binder. Throughout the fundraiser, fourth graders also visited other Saint David's homerooms to collect spare change or donations. At the end of the Read-A-Thon, boys collected all cash and check donations. On Thursday, May 15, 2025, the fourth graders’ culminating field trip to visit the Seeing Eye Foundation in Morristown, New Jersey, allowed for them to formally present their total donation (in excess of $16,000). Because of the great work Saint David's has done over the years, 'The Seeing Eye' wrote an article in their own publication about our partnership. For more more information, visit their website https://seeingeye.org.