ROCKINGHAM – At the end of April, Richmond Senior High School junior softball player Greyson Way set out on a “strike out” mission — but it was one away from the diamond.
As a part of her active involvement in Richmond’s National Beta Club, the NCHSAA 2018 4A strikeout leader organized a penny war fundraiser to benefit Kaylin “KK” Rush, a seven-year-old girl from Montgomery County who is battling leukemia. Way’s intention was to raise the money to help Rush and her parents, Ben and Allison Rush, pay for cancer treatments, while also aiming to help “strike out childhood cancer.”
The two-week long fundraiser, which ran from April 23 – May 4, included RSHS and all four Richmond County middle schools, and raised a staggering $4,100.
Between the four middle schools, just over $2,800 was raised, while RSHS students added another $500. The remaining amount of funds raised, according to Way, came from contributions in the community.
“This fundraiser was everything that I hoped for and more,” Way said of her penny war success. “It was so great to see all of the schools competing for such a great cause. The competition turned into not only schools competing against schools, but even individual classes within each school competing with each other.
“It was fun to keep track, and there is no better feeling in the world than helping others and seeing such a special little girl so happy,” Way added of Rush.
To help encourage local students to raise more money, Way pitted the middle schools against one another and installed a point system to help determine a winner. Based on size, Hamlet Middle School faced off against Rockingham Middle School, while Cordova Middle School competed against Ellerbe Middle School.
While called a “penny war,” students were able to bring in all other forms of change, and paper money was also accepted. The point system worked like this: for every penny or amount of paper money received, that school would earn that many points (paper money was converted into penny value for points; i.e. a dollar bill was equal to 100 points).
But if the opposing school brought in quarters, dimes or nickels, the value of that coin was deducted from the other school’s point total. Any other form of change aside from pennies did not count for the point total.
As Way noted, it was a constant back and forth battle that took a lot of tracking. Rockingham raised the most amount of money, collecting $1,067.86 to Hamlet’s second-place tally of $827.35. Ellerbe knocked off Cordova, with the Wildcats netting $586.66 to the Cavaliers’ $332.66.
With Richmond’s softball season ending nearly two weeks ago, and Rush being in and out of the hospital for treatments, Way finally got a chance to deliver the check to the Rush family on Sunday afternoon.
“I stopped by KK’s two sisters’ softball practice in Troy, N.C., to deliver the money,” Way explained. “I placed the checks in an envelope so the amount was revealed to them later that day when they opened it. Mr. Rush thanked me multiple times and they were all just so appreciative and grateful.
“It was awesome,” she added. “KK talked to me about how much fun she had at the lake the day before, at a party that was thrown for her because she recently finished chemotherapy. She is looking forward to a great summer and will start first grade in the fall.”
Kaylin Rush sports her new Richmond softball t-shirt given to her by Way.
As mentioned in a previous Richmond Observer article, Way became aware of KK’s situation during the 2017 softball season when Richmond traveled to West Montgomery High School for an early-season game on March 10. After KK threw out a ceremonial first pitch, and learning of her story from the local announcers, Way started thinking of a way to help her — thus came the idea of the penny war fundraiser.
“I honestly can’t even put into words what it meant to me to take part in this project to help out KK and her family,” Way said reflecting on her successful fundraiser. “KK has had such a huge impact on my life and she is an inspiration to me and so many other people around her. And to help out such an amazing and grateful family makes it even better.
“I would just like to thank the family of Kaylin for letting me start this project,” Way concluded. “This is something that I wanted to do for a while, and they helped make it possible. I would also like to thank all of the people throughout Richmond County who took part in raising money for such an awesome cause. I am so proud to be a part of such an awesome and caring community.”
On Monday, the Sandhills Athletic Conference announced its 2018 All-SAC team. Way was one of five Lady Raiders to headline the team, as Richmond had the most selections. Joining her were seniors Brianna Baysek and Owen Bowers, fellow junior Savannah Lampley and freshman Paige Ransom.
Way was also named as the SAC’s “Player of the Year,” as she recorded a 24-5 record and struck out 252 batters. That number was 40 strikeouts better than the second-place pitcher, Hoggard High School’s Jesse Mathis (212).
