Effecting big change with small change!

Sidewalks and store floors served up another good chunk of change--in a most literal sense--for the Sean McGrath Fund in 2012! For many years now, I've made a point of picking up any spare change that I see on ground and keeping it in a separate pocket, which gets emptied into its own dedicated cup each night. 

I try to live by the mantra 'Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,' so I've always seen it as an opportunity to put all of those pennies to good use, whether they were lost, ignored, or outright discarded (I used to chide a co-worker for throwing pennies into the garbage), so at the end of the year, I tally it up and send off a check to the memorial charity I co-founded, the Sean McGrath Fund.

This year was a little shy of last year's all-time high, but still a pretty good haul overall. Here's the breakdown:

.01 x 298  =  $2.98
.05 x 24  =  $1.20
.10 x 68  =  $6.80
.25 x 22  =  $5.50
1.00 x 4  =  $4.00
5.00 x 1  =  $5.00 
20.00 x 1  =  $20.00

Here's what the year's worth of accumulated loot looks like.

Adding in four Canadian pennies (worth .04 US) and a Euro dime (.13 US), that makes a grand total of $45.65! I'd say that's worth an occasional pause and squat.
 

As usual, I singled out some of the most interesting specimens, some so degraded that I couldn't even tell how old they were, and some in surprising shape for their age, starting with this nickel with a barely legible date stamp of 1974...

...and then there are these pennies, some so thin, worn, and withered that they'll surely be retired once I turn all of the change into the bank. [Top row, L-R: 19??, 19??, 1969; Middle row, L-R: 2001, 2006, 1975; Bottom row, L-R: 2011, 1966, 1934]

The check has been sent to the Sean McGrath Fund's parent organization, the Princeton Area Community Foundation, and I'm asking friends and supporters to match the donation in honor of what would have been Sean's birthday this weekend (inspired by my friend Miranda's matching donation last year). Since all donations to our Fund will be matched dollar for dollar by an anonymous challenge grant, that means this found change can make even more of a change for the great causes supported by the SMcGF. If you'd like to make a donation, hit the orange button on the PACF site and make sure you specify "Sean McGrath Fund" in your note!

 
The count for 2013's collection has begun, with the most recent addition (a penny in the snow on Fulton Street last night) bringing the total so far this month/year to $0.59. Here to hoping we'll break the $50 mark next year!