Inuvik (Jan 28/05) - When Mayor Peter Clarkson accepted three coffee tins worth of pennies from 15-year-old Nick Colton for victims of the tsunami, he was grateful for the donation, but knew that it came a price ‚ nearly 64 lbs worth of coins would have to be counted and rolled.

As the bank in town does not have a coin rolling machine, the task of wrapping the pennies fell into the lap of Samuel Hearne secondary school student Brandi Mercer.

"That was a lot of pennies," said the Grade 11 student, after completing the task last Friday. "Three big coffee cans, really, that's a lot of pennies!"

Mercer, who helps her mother Emmanuelle Dykes, executive assistant and payroll officer for the town, with filing and other clerical tasks after school was pleased to be able to help in some way with the tsunami relief effort.

"It's a small contribution because all I did was the rolling," she said.

However, Mercer's efforts exemplify the old saying 'every little bit counts.'After about 12 hours worth of work, $102 in pennies and $2.50 in other coins was accounted for and ready to be deposited for the Canadian Red Cross.

When Colton was contacted Monday with the total, he said he hadn't expected it to be so high.

"I'm a little bit surprised. I thought it would be around $80 or $90," he said.

Colton, who had been saving the pennies for 12 years, had planned on using the money to visit his grandmother in Calgary.

He says he will likely get to see his grandmother when his family takes a trip south this summer. And what words does he have for the girl who rolled all those pennies?

"Tell her thank-you."