I have bags, envelopes, and stashes of coin all over my house (I am clearly my grandfather’s grandchild). Every year my students have done a Christmas project, which has involved bringing in money for either World Vision or Gospel for Asia (this year Room 4 students raised enough to buy 2 pigs, 4 chickens, a water filter, a blanket and gospel tracks!). Kids, being kids, bring every form of money they can, they do bring in the occasional bill, but with it always comes many pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, loonies and toonies. Neither of these two charities want to be shipped a bag full of pennies so I always pay for the gifts and take the coins, etc. Students also pay for book orders with random change. I have taken all these coins, and many others that I have found at the bottom of my purse (and often I leave some in old purses that find their way into the closet), in pockets, in the washing machine, the list is endless. The bags have grown, and when I moved, they all found their way into a drawer of my desk.
Last night Jay and I decided that this money would become the start of our Mexico trip fund. It was all just sitting there, and we have a trip to go on! At first we guessed that maybe there was $200 dollars. We sorted the coins, and then the counting began… We counted, and counted, and counted (okay it didn’t really take that long but it was a process). We passed $200 quite easily and kept on counting. In the end we had counted almost $600!! Maybe I shouldn’t have had all that money sitting in my desk!
In the end the Mexico fund has started (we even added more to it with a gift we received over Christmas!). Now I just need next February to come, bring on the warmth!
I now love coins! My new coin collection will start tomorrow!
6 comments:
haha! i remember all your coin stashes from when we moved the furniture around in your apt. obviously it has grown since then, but aren't you glad i didn't know the value of your stash back when i regularily snuck into your place?
Nice! How long before you head down to Mexico?
Dayna, I had no idea how much it was worth either!
Mark, Not for another 13 months :(
The wedding isn't until Feb 2010, but we need to start saving now!
I think your new nickname may have to be "Money Bags". :)
Wow, way to go to your class for raising so much money for those gifts!
That's so exciting for you guys that you've got such a good start on your Mexico fund!!
Working in donation processing at Siloam I have dealt with my share of kids coins too (makes it a little easier to deal with knowing it comes from such sweet little hearts!) but the other day we found out about a bank that has a machine where you just dump out all your coins and it automatically counts it for you... no matter how much it is! Then it spits out a receipt and you bring it to the bank teller and they deposit the money for you! How cool is that hey?! (ok, so maybe I'm a bit of a nerd!)
It just goes to show you..........every little bit counts.
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