‘Pennies for a Heart’ helps Phenix City Elementary parent raise money for transplant

Phenix City Elementary School fourth-grader Kendrick Dunton saw the super-sized check for $522.88 presented Monday to his ailing mother, who needs a heart transplant. Then he translated the numbers into words.

“They really care about her,” he said. “It’s just great that they’re doing this for her.”

The 775-student school raised the money in three weeks for Kendrick’s mother, Robin Bennett. Students put their donations in the lobby’s two barrels stationed under a “Pennies for a Heart” banner.

“We’ve had many students to even empty out their piggy banks in support of this,” said PCES principal Shuvon Ray.

They also had adults contribute dollar bills or write checks, including one for $60, she said.

The money will go toward Bennett’s goal of raising $10,000 to be in the Emory Heart Transplant Program. The necessary amount is $5,000 for Georgia residents, but out-of-state patients don’t receive a matching grant, she said. As of Sunday night, Bennett’s supporters have raised “a little over $3,000,” she said. The other major fundraisers have been $1,692 from 35 donors in one month through her online account at GoFundMe.com and nearly $700 in T-shirt sales her friend Carol Gardner organized.

“We’re climbing the ladder, but we’re not quite there yet,” Bennett said. “We need a lot more support, and I’m asking the community and the surrounding areas, whatever they can, no donation is too small.”

PCES proved that.

The younger students competed against the older ones. Grades K-2 raised $277.69, and grades 3-5 students raised $245.19, but the school didn’t offer any prizes for the grades, classes or students who raised the most money. Ray explained why.

“That’s not what service is about,” she said. “Service is about giving and not necessarily expecting something in return. We don’t want our children to believe that every time they do something for a good cause they’re supposed to get something back.”

Just like Bennett. Despite her heart functioning at only 15-17 percent of the effectiveness she needs to be fully healthy, she is one of the “platinum volunteers” at PCES. She helps in the cafeteria and in the library. She operates the snack cart and facilitates various events.

“Wherever she is needed, she’s available,” Ray said. “It’s incredible the amount of service she provides to our school.”

After she presented the check to Bennett, fifth-grader Avery Furlow summed up why her fellow students were motivated to donate.

“It is a very big accomplishment to help her because she comes to school so much to help us,” Avery said. “Since she’s having some disabilities right now, we would love for her to become better.”

Bennett, 46, has needed a heart transplant for six months and has been combating congestive heart failure for nine years. She used to be a social worker at agencies such as Lee County Youth Development Center and East Alabama Mental Health Center. But her declining condition has kept her from working full time since 2008. Now, disability payments are the only income she has to support Kendrick and her other son, Chauncey Person, a sophomore at Alabama A&M University, she said.

“Not being able to go to work is hard,” she said. “Not being able to sometimes do for yourself is hard. Coming here, it gives me something to do. I tried staying at home, but I did nothing but sleep all day. I’d pick up my son and go back to bed. So depression was around the corner.”

Now, hope is on the horizon.

“I do want to thank the people that have donated, those that have gone the extra mile to help and those that will be helping,” she said. “You can’t give a personal note to everybody in a situation like this, but I do want everybody to know that I’m thankful.”

Bennett wears a portable Milrinone IV pump 24 hours per day. Her doctors aren’t sure how long she can go on like this.

“It’s an up-in-the-air thing,” she said.

If the IV pump doesn’t improve her condition, Bennett could receive a “bridge to transplant,” she said, meaning a pump would be placed in her chest until a heart becomes available for her.

Meanwhile, when he sees his mother’s strong spirit overcome her weak heart to volunteer at his school, Kendrick said, it shows him “she’s fighting. She’s doing good. She’s trying to get the heart transplant so she can stay with her children.”

This story was originally published March 7, 2016 at 3:11 PM with the headline "‘Pennies for a Heart’ helps Phenix City Elementary parent raise money for transplant."