 "Photo: Olga Deshchenko")
This past holiday season, New Yorkers walked by a million dollars spread out on the ground at the Rockefeller Plaza. A transparent container holding more than $1 million in pennies, collected by children in over 850 public schools, displayed the success of the seventeenth annual Penny Harvest.
"It's truly an amazing sight," said Nicholas Petrenko, who came out to see the installation after hearing about it on the news. "I'm glad our public schools teach our children the importance of charity and goodwill."
In 2007, more than half a million children in all New York City neighborhoods participated in the Penny Harvest. In a span of five weeks, students collected over 100 million pennies from their neighbors, relatives and local businesses.
Several trucks and dozens of volunteers filled up the installation at Rockefeller Center overnight. The architect of the American Museum of Natural History, James Polshek, designed the Penny Harvest Field free of charge.
But collecting the pennies was the easy part. This spring, elementary and middle school students will form philanthropy roundtables to discuss global and community problems. With the help of Penny Harvest coaches, trained teachers, librarians and parent coordinators, students will decide how the money will be split and distributed among various causes.
Last year, homeless shelters, animal rescue organizations and senior centers were some of the 850 community organizations to receive grants from the Penny Harvesters.
Students also engage in hands-on neighborhood service projects. Last year, youngsters chose to teach English to immigrants, collect supplies for troops in Iraq and help out teenage mothers in their communities. They were involved in over 300 service-learning projects.
"We should all take part in this wonderful mission," said Petrenko. "If our kids can make a difference, shouldn't we be able to do more? This is a powerful lesson to us, the parents."
The Penny Harvest was established 15 years ago by the educational non-profit organization Common Cents. It designs service-learning programs for young students. The Penny Harvest is "the largest child philanthropy program in the United States," according to the Common Cents Web site, commoncents.org.
Common Cents was co-founded by former playwright Teddy Gross and his daughter, Nora Gross. As a four year old, Nora Gross asked her father how she could help a homeless man she saw on the street. Teddy Gross helped her collect pennies from their neighbors to raise money for the homeless. He realized that other children should be involved as well. Common Cents and its Penny Harvest initiative took off in 1991.
Nora Gross is now a senior at Princeton University. She is studying art history, photography and African-American studies. She plans to be a New York City high school teacher once she graduates.
Teddy Gross is the executive director of Common Cents.
"What this is really about is trying to give young students a measure of autonomy and group determination, the ability to make their own decisions," he told The New York Times. "It's important to understand, at a young age, what it is like to be a part of a democratic process."
Since 1991, the Penny Harvest has raised $5.9 million in charity funds.
Adam Kessler, a marketing communications major at Emerson College, stood over the sea of gold as it glistened in the December night. As treasurer at his elementary school, Kessler remembers leading his class in the pennies collection.
"It was so awesome, because at first you almost feel like it's completely pointless. It's just spare change that people are throwing in jars. What can a few pennies really do?" he said. "But by the end of our harvest, we had over $2,000, which we donated to make a difference. It felt great."
If examined closely, among the pennies there were quarters, dimes and nickels thrown in by onlookers. Some tourists contributed in hopes of returning to Rockefeller Center next Christmas, while others, in the midst of the holiday season, donated change to support the children in their efforts.
"I'm in college now, but I'm so glad the Penny Harvest is doing well today," said Kessler. "It gives me hope for humanity."
On the evening of Jan. 2, four trucks weighing 35,000 pounds each vacuumed up the change that accumulated in the Penny Harvest Field. After it is counted, it will be divided between participating schools. This spring, the children will decide which organizations are in most need of a dip in their sea of gold.
Olga Deshchenko can be reached at odeshche@student.umass.edu
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