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"Loose" Change


If you saw a coin lying on the sidewalk or street, would you take a moment to pick it up? or would you keep walking? Doesn't it seem that coins seem to collect in the bottom of your purse, in your pockets, in the car or under the cushions of your couch?  Even though I check the pockets of the pants when I do laundry, some change inevitably seems to end up clanging around in the dryer. Towards the end of the past school year, I mentioned to Dominic's teacher about having a penny drive to raise money for charity.  I have heard of schools doing it, but I had never tried to organize one.  The school administration was on board about doing it, so after a little planning on my part, the drive began! I went to my local bank and told them my idea and they gave me penny, nickel, dime and quarter wrappers for free :)  I pulled a number out of my head of $100.00, thinking okay, maybe we would get $25.00 (if we were lucky).  The penny drive total actually went 50 cents over the goal for a grand total of $100.50!!  Some of the kids in the school (including Dominic) helped count the coins. To make it easier to count, I sent in sandwich sized bags and had the kids put 50 pennies in each bag. In  pennies alone, there were 4,750!! Some bigger bills were donated also, which really touched my heart.  At the beginning of August, the money collected was donated to a charity Dominic's teacher had selected :)  I was so impressed by the administration, teachers, students, parents and everyone else who donated or helped in some way.  I'm hoping the school makes this an annual event and that they pick a different charity to donate to each year.  What will you do with all of your "loose" change?
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