Come to the penny’s farewell party
Olivia McDonald // February 1, 2013
FRIENDS! Lend me your pennies! Dig deep into your couch cushions, empty those overflowing cup holders in your car, pick up that lonely cent on the sidewalk – they’re wanted in a national movement.
It’s been a long time since pennies have been wanted. Normally, people just toss their copper coins in the trash in hopes of lightening the load in their pockets. But did you know that there may be as many as 20 billion pennies still in circulation? In the last 40 years the Royal Canadian Mint has made and distributed more than 400 million pennies a year – “enough to fill at least 100 Olympic-sized swimming pools each year” according to Craig and Marc Kielburger, founders of Canadian non-profit, Free the Children (FTC). If we can find just one per cent of those pennies still kicking around out there, that equals enough water for 80,000 people!
This February, FTC is holding Canada’s largest penny drive called We Create Change. Donate your old pal Elizabeth II to a good cause, cuz’ let’s be serious, you really don’t need her copper-y royal highness clogging up your pockets anymore.
Twenty-five dollars worth of pennies provides a child in a developing country with clean drinking water for life. I know what you’re thinking: BUT THAT DOESN’T MAKE ANY CENTS!
Here are the facts:
- Every day, women around the world spend a cumulative total of 200 million hours collecting water for their families. Eighty percent of illnesses in developing countries are linked to poor water and sanitation[1]. United Nations has dubbed 2013 the Year of Water
- This year, in recognition of the global water crisis and the effect that events like last year’s East African drought have on developing countries, Free The Children has set a goal of providing 100,000 people with clean water for life. Free The Children’s We Create Change campaign is made possible by RBC
- 1,000,000,000 people live without access to fresh drinking water
- 4 water jugs filled with pennies equals $500. That’s enough to provide clean water for 20 people for life
Now here’s what you do:
- Collect up those pennies; they don’t even need to be rolled! Or click here and request your own penny bag to be sent to you, free of charge! But do it quick!
- Between February4 and February 9, drop by your local RBC branch and drop those suckas off!
- Don’t have any pennies but still wanna help? Click here to make a $25 donation or to purchase your Water Rafiki Friend Chain bracelet (it’s only $10! That’s cover at the Palace!) and help provide clean water for one person for a whole year!
And don’t forget: keep an eye out for Spencer West, FTC’s motivational speaker as he walks 300km from Edmonton to Calgary, on his bare hands, to raise money for the project.
You know what they say: find a penny, pick it up, all the day you’ll have good luck. Help spread the luck to those who need it most.
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If anyone would like to donate their pennies to the cause and needs some help – come find me by Feb. 4 in the am, and I’ll add yours to my bag!
More Information:
Twitter: @SaveThePenny
Huffington Post article, The Best Use for Old Pennies
UnWater: Year of Water
Spencer West press release announcing his walk
