Winfield woman turns a small jar of change into a big project

WINFIELD, Kan. (KSNW) — A Winfield woman started Change Along the Way, collecting change throughout the year and donating it to the William Newton Healthcare Foundation. It all began when Cyndee Unger became a housekeeper at the hospital.

“I kept finding money! What am I gonna do? It’s not my money,” Unger said. “So I thought I would approach the foundation president, fearing that she might say, ‘Silly woman, we don’t need pennies; we need dollars.’ And Annika was ecstatic about my little stuff. And so ever since then, the hospital even got a hold of it, and I’d had people giving me money, pennies everywhere.”

“She said, ‘Could I give this to the foundation?’ And I said, ‘Absolutely,'” Executive director of the WNHF Annika Morris said.

Soon enough, word traveled about her coin collection.

“People would just come to me and say, ‘Here’s 35 cents,’ and you get half a dozen people doing that, and it builds up,” Unger said.

She donates the money to the WNHF, and with their Second Century campaign, donors can choose the area of donation, so she chose the Emergency Room.

“When you watch them work, and even as a housekeeper, I’m not in there 15, 20 minutes maybe, depending on what’s going on,” Unger said. “But you look at them, and they sit at the work table going out there, doing the things that they do, and then you get a little closer, and then you see that they have a sandwich in the other hand. They don’t even have a place to just chill, and I want them to have a space to just get away for a little bit or even just eat your food in a small area and then go to your workplace. Don’t have them doing both at the same time.”

Cyndee Unger (KSN Photo)

She wants the Emergency Room staff to have a better space to rest.

“I dream for them a workplace that they look forward to coming to,” Unger said. “A place to work where the place also takes care of you, providing you with a little bit of comfort. I want the very best for them, and in turn, they can give their best also.”

Another reason Unger wanted to give to the hospital is because it has taken care of her.

“I found out I had cancer, and they caught it really early,” Unger said. “They didn’t just get one test. They realized something could be wrong, something could not be wrong, but they chose to – let’s get this going a little farther, and they found cancer. They caught it early, and I’m here to do this interview, and I live to be 70 years old. I can keep on goin’ and giving.”

She’s been collecting change for the last eight years and worked at the hospital for 6.5 years. Unger has collected $500 in change over the years.

Cyndee Unger (KSN Photo)

“It’s still going, and I’m retired, but I still have a heart for the air guys and gals,” Unger said.

Unger searches high and low for coins.

“My husband’s pant pockets; I go through his pants every night to get the change!” Unger said.

Morris says they are getting busier and busier, and there is a need, and they appreciate gifts of all sizes.

“Philanthropy is becoming more and more important in rural health care and in health care in general because the landscape is changing each and every day,” Morris said. “It’s getting harder and harder to make money. It won’t save any hospital, but it sure does help, and it inspires others, and it kind of makes you feel more a part of a team when you do so.”

Cyndee Unger (KSN Photo)

Unger says she is going to keep collecting change as long as she can.

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