Westminster students, faculty, and staff recently pulled  their resources, and raised nearly $10,000 to help two staff members.

 Dwight Copper, a technical assistant in the library who was diagnosed with bone cancer, and Kelly Hartner, enterprise network engineer whose daughter was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, were both amazed at the help they received from their fellow workers and students.

 "I was approached by Pat Lewis, who works with me in the library," said Copper.  "She told me that the staff wanted to collect money to help me pay my medical bills.  I was amazed, but when Linda Burkhart's son, Tom, got the fraternities and sororities involved, I was overwhelmed."

 Theta Chi organized a date auction within a week that brought in $1,200, and Inter-Fraternity Council organized Dwight's Fight, and asked each member to donate $1, which raised $800.  Faculty and staff donated the balance of the monies to Copper.

 Over $5,700 was raised for Copper, while more than $4,000 was donated to Hartner's charity, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

 "When I received the money from the students at Sing and Swing, I was really surprised that they were able to collect that much," said Hartner.  "But I was really touched by the student reception when Claire I stepped on stage to accept the donation.  They were wonderful and applauded us."

 In addition to the Sing and Swing donation, each sorority and fraternity had a "Penny War" to raise money for the Hartner's charity.  Each organization had a contest to see who could garner the most pennies, but competitors could put silver or paper in the opponents jar which would deduct from the pennies collected. 

 "One student put in $65 worth of pennies, only to be negated by $65 paper money from the ATM machine," said Hartner.  "In the end the Greeks on campus donated about $1,800 to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.  I also received over $1,310 from the donation cans around campus and New Wilmington from the staff and community, and about $770 from online donations.  Even the Globe-Leader  helped us by putting our flyer in free of charge." 

 Both Copper and Hartner expressed thanks for the gifts.

 "I want to thank everyone for their support, especially the kids," said Hartner.  "There is always so much negative written about college students.  They didn't have to help "" they just wanted to help.  There is more hope for me now."
 
"It's no surprise that this campus family came through for me," said Copper.  "The doctors are pleased with the results of my therapy.  I want to thank everyone for the tremendous support, especially the students who come by just to ask how I am."

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