Six thousand pennies – that’s how many the Glacier Middle School Builders Club counted in one day, adviser Karin Plagens said.

That’s $600 of the almost $2,400 Glacier students raised during a 10-day coin drive for the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Tennessee.

The Builders Club, an arm of the Buckley Kiwanis organization, started its Change for the Children drive April 10. Teachers were given the opportunity to have their classroom participate and collect funds. But participation was volunteer, Plagens said.

She said this is the third year for the coin drive, but this was by far the most the group has raised, thanks to the unexpected match of student donations by one teacher.

Builders Club is the middle school equivalent of the high school-level Key Club or the adult Kiwanis. Plagens said the middle school version is rare, but the Glaicer group, which meets after school, is active. The group’s other projects include campus and city park cleanup, a letter-writing campaign to soldiers and participation with the Kiwanis and Key Club’s annual toy collection and Christmas party.