Fifteen-year-old Tariq Johnson is looking for the right match, and his classmates at Wareham Middle School have stepped up to help him.

Tariq was born with the immunodeficiency disorder Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome, and has persevered through blood transfusions, a splenectomy, and a host of other medical issues.

Now, he needs to find the right match for both a bone marrow and a kidney transplant.

“They went nationwide and they could not find a match,” said his mother, Donna Johnson, assistant pastor at the Onset Foursquare Church.

The Wareham Middle School Honor Society organized a “penny war” to help raise the money needed to hold a bone marrow drive. It only took a week-and-a-half for the students to raise $1,008 for the drive.

“I didn’t know it was for me,” Tariq said of the penny war. “I thought it was for kids who don’t have shoes or clothes.”

The penny war was a competitive fundraiser that pitted homeroom against homeroom in an effort to raise money for a cause the students weren’t privy to until after the money had been raised. The teachers knew where the money was going, however, and encouraged the fierce competition.

“The teachers all knew who the money was going to,” said Honor Society Advisor Jessica Frazier. “I think knowing who the student was pushed them.”

Here’s  how the “war” worked: Homerooms filled jars with pennies. The room with the most pennies would be proclaimed the winner. But students could sneakily fill other rooms’ jars with silver coins or paper money. The equivalent amount of pennies would then be deducted from that homeroom’s score, meaning the homeroom would have to match the amount of funds in silver and paper with pennies in order to get bring their score back up.

“Lots of people are competitive,” said eighth-grader and Honor Society President Megan Flory. “There were some kids who brought in a bunch of one-dollar-bills.”

The purpose of the bone marrow drive is both to find a match for Tariq, and to add more people to the National Bone Marrow registry. The drive will be held at the Onset Foursquare Church on Saturday, June 15, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The test is painless, requiring only a cheek swab.

Johnson has been taking care of Tariq since he was seven years old, and when he first came into her life, she was told not to expect him to live more than another year. But Johnson heard a message from a higher power.

“I believe God told me he was going to heal Tariq,” said Johnson.

Tariq is outgoing and talkative, and hasn’t let his challenges prevent him from setting some goals for himself.

“When I grow up I want to be a video game designer. I want to make a game people can play all day and all night and get addicted to,” Tariq said, adding that he doesn’t want to get anyone is trouble in the process.

Johnson has been doing “specialized foster care” for years and has taken in a number of children who were born with a diverse array of challenges.

“The church family, that’s what keeps you going,” she said, “your relationships with God and people.”

She has her own biological children in addition to those she’s taken in, and takes the weighty responsibilities in stride: “When you’re a mother, you do what you have to do,” she said matter-of-factly.

Tariq also tries to help out others when he can. “If they drop their books I’ll help them pick them up, or if there’s a new kid in school” he helps them during the first days.

Tariq is a dancer, artist, amateur playwright, and actor, and an overall friendly, outgoing kid.

“He is probably one of the happiest kids walking the hallway,” said Frazier.