 |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Penny Lovers of America
P.O. Box 6141
Somerset, NJ 08873-6141
732-873-3827
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
Raid that penny jar, send a kid to college
Saturday October 28, 1995
By John Vaughan, staff writer
Richard Barber Sr. says he has found a solution to one of the irritating problems of modem life: what to do with all those useless pennies that weigh down your purse, wear holes in your pockets, collect under the car seat and filter down between sofa cushions.
He wants you to give them to the National Penny Recycling Campaign, which will in turn spend them on scholarships. to send deserving poor high school students to college.
There are 183 billion pennies in existence right now. And do you have any idea how many of them are hoarded away, lying idle incoffee cans and shoeboxes? Billions. A study done several years ago for the US Mint estimated that Americans on average have nearly $10 in pennies drifting about their homes, stashed in piggy banks or tied up in old socks.
Barber, 55, is a Trenton, N.C., native and director of purchaI sing for the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. In 1985 he founded Penny Lovers of America, Inc. The charity is dedicated to the notion that millions of isolated, unwanted pennies will educate thousands if they can only be collected and put in one pot.
This year's recycling goal is 1 million pounds of pennies. A pound of pennies contains $1.64. Multiplied by a million, that's a campaign goal of $1.64 million.
"It's a unique way of bringing kids together from different cultural and economic backgrounds who have a common need" says Barber, whose wife, Betty, grew up in Charlotte. "These are the people who are going to lead our country: our doctors, lawyers, nurses and so on. They must be educated. We hear so much today about the separation of the races. Through education, people communicate and learn that they have much in common."
The collection method is simple: Churches, schools, Scout troops, clubs and other groups set up a 5-gallon plastic jug, and everybody tosses in spare pennies. When the jug is full, somebody telephones Penny Lovers of America headquarters in Somerset, N.J., (732) 873-3827, and a local volunteer comes to get the pennies. , Collection volunteers are local residents and carry proper identification. They weigh the pennies and deposit them in a local bank. The bank then sends an equivalent sum to the Penny Recycling Campaign bank in New Jersey. The money is made available to high school scholarship committees nationwide.
Barber's brainchild has plenty of official support. The week of Oct. 22-28 was designated National Penny Charity Week last year in a joint congressional resolution. President Clinton has urged Ameri. cans to donate their pennies "to enable underprivileged and disadvantaged students to get a college education." .
"My father was a tobacco farmer in Jones County, N.C.," Barber said. "He had a third-grade educa- tion. But he put seven out of nine kids through college. I've met two U.S. presidents, many senators, congresspersons, entertainers, and athletes. But my father, by his commitment to his family and to education, was one of the greatest men I ever met."
 Back to main menu
|
|
|
|
|
