Caring is contagious.

Last month, in nine days, students at Lammersville Elementary School scraped up $1,577 to give to relief efforts in Haiti following its deadly earthquake.

At an assembly Friday morning, the school learned that its charity had inspired a church that meets in the school’s cafeteria for Sunday services to pledge an additional $1,000.

Together, the school and Mountain’s Hope Community Worship Center plan to donate $2,577 to the American Red Cross Haiti relief fund.

Every month, Lammersville’s 270 kindergartners through eighth-graders focus on a different “pillar of character,” as part of a national nonprofit’s ethics campaign.

In January, when kids were urged to think about “caring,” they made a school project out of raising money for the struggling island nation. They shaded in a giant map of Haiti hung in the cafeteria as more money filled classrooms’ jars.

Principal Samy D’Amico said church members saw the map and couldn’t help but contribute.

The donation was the largest single contribution in the county so far, said Liza Cruz, a director of San Joaquin County’s American Red Cross.

She said help continues to pour in from the area’s schools.

D’Amico said the donation was a true success in teaching students about character.

“Today’s assembly was for honoring our students, but it was more special,” he said. “It goes back to really putting into practice what we talk about with the character pillar of caring.”