Memorial's Sea-Hawks and the School of Human Kinetics and Recreation led a penny drive in recent weeks, which resulted in a total of 49,381 of the one-cent coins to help support The Telegram newspaper's Warm Hearts campaign.

The campaign supported the Iris Kirby House, a shelter for women and their children leaving abusive relationships. The total number of pennies collected during the overall campaign was an impressive 920,724, for a total of $9,207.24 in aid of the cause. The coins weighed in at approximately 4,968 pounds or 2,253 kilograms.

The Telegram launched the Warm Hearts campaign at the Sea-Hawks' basketball games on Jan. 19, which featured a halftime performance by Chris Kirby and The Marquee.

Pennies were collected at Sea-Hawks' games and at the general office of the School of Human Kinetics and Recreation from the launch up until the final Sea-Hawks regular season home game on Feb. 23.

Michelle Healey, Memorial's director of athletics, is thankful for the support. 

"We saw this as an opportunity to help a great cause and our student-athletes, community supporters and the campus community really came through," she said. "We are really appreciative that people took the time to gather their pennies and donate them to the Warm Hearts campaign."