Whitesville Trinity Juniors Claim Sweet Victory in Penny War for St. Jude

The pennies have been counted. The results are in. And we have a winner!

Whitesville Trinity High School, in Whitesville, KY, just wrapped up its annual Penny War for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis. This event has served as a precursor for the WBKR/Window World St. Jude Radiothon for years.

It was inspired by Gavin Howard, who is now a junior at the school.  Gavin and his Knottsville family have been raising money for the hospital since Gavin first came to the radio station to donate some money he had gotten for his birthday.  That was about a decade ago.

Fast forward to now and this young man has raised over $40,000 for the children of St. Jude and he's inspired an entire generation of his fellow Whitesville Trinity classmates to support the hospital as well.  They do that, annually, with a no-holds-barred Penny War.

According to Gavin's mom, Jenny, this year's war was INCREDIBLE!  Emily Hernandez, the school principal, said "The freshmen and seniors were going after each other and the juniors hid their money in a locker and put it in at the end of the day and ended up winning."

The entire student body participated and students were going out to their cars to get change on and off all week.

When it was all said and done, the students of Whitesville Trinity and St. Mary's raised an astounding $4600 for St. Jude.

By the way, a shout out to the first and second graders, who claimed victory at St. Mary's.

Gavin's mom says, "I have tears and goosebumps. Amazing."

And she's right.  In this "war", everyone wins. Especially the inspiring patients of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Tune into the WBKR/Window World St. Jude Radiothon on Thursday, February 3rd and Friday, February 4th and find out how YOU can join our St. Jude family. You can become a Partner-in-Hope for just $19 a month on a credit/debit card.  The number to call starting Thursday morning at 6am is 1-800-201-8883. Each Partner will receive the brand new St. Jude Love Music Stop Cancer t-shirt.

And be sure to tune in Friday afternoon at 4pm. Gavin and his family will be on hand to reveal how much money he and his family, friends and classmates raised for the 2022 event.  His mom offered up a sneak preview when she said, "I've never counted so much money!"