The students of Bellwood Elementary are giving back. Last month, in an effort to recognize September as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, students raised close to $3,000 in one week, donating nothing but spare change.

During the third week of September, children in Kindergarten through second grade collected change in a competition that benefited the community.

“It was amazing, both the excitement from the kids and the amount raised,” said Bellwood Counselor, Georgette Hunt.

The money was raised to honor Sarah Williams, a fifth-grade student who has battled neuroblastoma. The funds, which totaled $2,813.05.,were donated to the Coulter Hampton foundation.

Williams and her family chose to donate the money to the Coulter Hampton Foundation, a Gordon County charity founded by the Hampton family after the loss of their son Coulter to a rare blood disease called Katoisis Congenita. Coulter’s body did not make blood platelets, and as a result Coulter endured blood transfusions several times a week, and a bone marrow transplant.

“This activity is a perfect example of how children can change the world around them,” said Coulter Hampton Foundation Chair Nikki Hampton.

After Coulter’s death in 2005, the second Saturday in March was declared Coulter Hampton day, and during the foundation’s first fundraiser the Hampton family raised more than $24,000. That money has been used to assist families coping with childhood illnesses.

“The Belwood Elementary School community clearly sympathizes and deeply cares about Sarah and other children who are battling serious illnesses in Gordon County,” said Hampton.

Hampton said the Coulter Hampton Foundation actively encourages parents and children to vol-unteer together, and that the children’s successful efforts clearly demonstrated what a community effort can do.

“We continue to serve the children of Gordon County in hopes that future families can be helped the way our family was helped financially and emotionally during our son's illness,” Hampton said.

The fundraiser was not only beneficial to the Coulter Hampton foundation, it also proved to be a learning experience for the students, with several teacher translating the coin drive into a math lesson.

The school also hosted a blood drive and a pajama day; students made a small donation in order to wear pajamas to school. The pajama day benefited the Candle Lighters Foundation, a charity that assists families with cancer and gives money toward research. This foundation donated books to the Bellwood media center in recognition of the school’s $232 donation.