Pennies.
They are the seemingly pointless pieces of our nation’s currency that often go forgotten, discarded like rubbish among the dirt and clutter that cover our streets and homes never to be seen again.
But for a group of Seaholm students this tiny piece of copper (and zinc) serves a much greater purpose, relief to over 23 million Sub Saharan Africans infected with HIV/AIDS.
The Penny Project, started by two former BPS students, Katherine Comeau (Seaholm) and Emily Reynolds (Groves), was created to provide help and aide to the millions of HIV-infected men, women, and children living in Ghana.
In many African countries, including Ghana, those who are infected are often shunned or outcast making it near impossible for them to find work, attend school, or marry. The money raised by The Penny Project helps the people in Ghana, who are infected with HIV/AIDS, that are in need of clothes and school supplies, jobs and/or medical attention.
“The project originally started three years ago,” said Seaholm senior Mallory Hinz, who was one of the project’s early participants. “The goal was to collect one penny for every person in Sub Saharan Africa”.
With a goal of over 23 million pennies to collect, the bar was set high but not high enough. The Penny Project surpassed its target of 23 million pennies, $230,000, in November of 2008. A group of youths then traveled to Ghana, in the summer of 2009, to meet the people they had worked so hard to help.
“It was a truly eye opening experience,” said Seaholm senior, Lindsay Moss. “I never thought I’d learn so much about myself through someone else.”
The Penny Project was complete. Moss, Hinz, and others, including Seaholm’s Megan Schowalter, Ann Ciemnecki and Emily Smith, met the goal they had set to achieve, but they weren’t done there. The relationships they had established with the people, children, and organizations were much too important to be lost.
“While in Ghana we came to the realization that we did not want to be finished, the relationships we made were to important,” Hinz explains.
After their return, Smith and Hinz decided to reignite the Penny Project by making it more than just a task, and making it a connection.
The name was changed to The Penny Connection but the objective stayed the same, help. They continue to collect and don't look to be stopping anytime soon.
According to Hinz, the group stuck with the “penny” to define them because it’s small, something everybody can manage to donate, and because pennies often go forgotten just like people can forget how big a problem AIDS is, in Africa and all over the world.
The Penny Connection has donated roughly $250,000 to organizations that clothe, teach, and heal those whose lives have been devastated by HIV/AIDS in Sub Saharan Africa.
“We've donated money to the King Jesus Charity Home, WOLFA, the Ankase Medical Healing Hospital and First United Women and lots more.” said Smith
Interested donors can contact Hinz or Smith, and they do the counting.
“We’ve donated money to the King Jesus Charity Home, WOLFA, the Ankase Medical Healing Hospital and First United Women and lots more,” said Smith. Interested donors can contact Hinz or Smith and they will do all the counting. “We accept all money [not just pennies],” said Hinz. “But, yeah, we have to count and bag all of the coins.”
Interested donors can contact “ This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ”
