Americans for Common Cents (ACC) conducts research and provides information to Congress and the Executive Branch on the value and benefits of the penny.

Penny Drives Assist Terrorist Attack Victims and Families

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Weller/Peter Mirijanian
September 24, 2001
(800) 561-7909/(202) 429-4017


Americans for Common Cents (ACC) extends its deepest sympathies to those who were directly affected by the September 11 attacks and joins our fellow Americans in the pursuit of a future where similar atrocities are not possible here or elsewhere.

Thousands of individuals, families, and support organizations will need significant help in these sad and difficult times.  As families and schools look for ways to make donations to fund special resources and personnel, ACC wants to remind the public of the power of the penny.  Large individual gifts still account for a large portion of the dollars raised by the nation’s philanthropies.  But at many nonprofits, monies generated from small fundraising drives are important as well.

One way the public and students can contribute to the relief effort is through penny harvests that motivate numbers of citizens to make small donations that add up to big dollars.  Schools, and students in particular, have historically utilized penny drives to fuel fundraising for various needs, ranging from community feeding assistance programs to computers and field trips.

To this end, ACC has drafted a “Penny Fundraising Handbook” (www.pennies.org) that can guide adults and students on how they can conduct their own coin drive, including the collecting of pennies and turning them into greenbacks.  Below are Internet links from The New York Times and an online site that provide a sampling of organizations offering assistance and information about where to make donations earned through penny harvests.

www.nytimes.com/national/resources/index.html#relief

www.helping.org

ACC encourages individuals to conduct a penny harvest of their own, turn the coins into dollars, and then donate the money to a charity assisting the terrorist attack victims.  Individually, pennies may not seem like much.  But, taken together, they make a critical difference for organizations dedicated to serving the needs of our nation and its people.

ACC is a broad-based coalition of business, charitable, and numismatic organizations dedicated to keeping the penny.  The coalition was formed in 1990 in response to Congressional threats to eliminate the one-cent coin.

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