The holiday spirit was strong at Farney Elem.

Farney fifth-grade students surround the money they helped collect, along with the book that inspire

From a press release:
What began as a book reading for staff members has
transformed into a school-wide holiday benevolence effort at Farney Elementary School.
Farney principal Beth Coleman read the book "Penny's Christmas Jar Miracle" by Jason F. Wright to the staff at the beginning of December. The story follows a girl named Penny Paisley, who expands her family's annual tradition of giving a jar of change to someone in need.
Media specialist Ruth Wiesmann then read the book to students, who took Penny's lead and had the big-picture inspiration to raise money for less
fortunate Farney families. Each teacher kept a jar in his or her classroom to collect spare change from students that would eventually be grouped into the master jar, appropriately named the "Farney Miracle Jar."
Within a week, the enormous jar was filled to the brim.
"After I read the book to all the kids, it just mushroomed," Wiesmann said. "We were totally overwhelmed. One kindergarten student brought in
a $10 bill the first day, so her teacher e-mailed her parents to ask if they knew about it. Her dad explained that the child never spends her
money, but when she heard ["Penny's Christmas Jar Miracle"] she wanted to bring in all the money she had to give it away."
Coleman brought two more jars in to handle the overflow, and they both filled up within days. She cashed in the change at Prosperity Bank's Cypress and Magnolia locations, and the Miracle Jar has filled yet again. The last day for students to donate change was on Dec. 16, and Coleman expects to deliver a generous amount of money to two families in need at the end of the week.
"One little boy told his mom he wanted to give all his allowance to the Miracle Jar, so he put his whole allowance in there," Coleman said. "We're just so proud of our kids because they're so giving. It means a lot to know that the kids can take that story and have such a heart for helping others. We had no idea they would do quite so much."
The school's generosity has bled over into other service projects as well. For Veterans Day, Farney students, parents and staff collected a wealth of items to ship to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The student council sponsored a stuffed animal drive in honor of a former Farney student who recently passed away, and also sponsored a food drive for the holidays by collecting nonperishable food items for those in
need.
"The spirit of the holidays is alive and well here at Farney Elementary," Wiesmann said. "The lessons that are learned by these acts of kindness will stay with our students long after they leave our hallways."