FLEXIBLE, INCLUSIVE, AND CREATIVE

Pennies is simple and direct enough to embrace creative activities from individuals, schools, congregations, businesses, clubs, etc. of all kinds and sizes. It can include and unite people of goodwill from throughout the community. Campaigns can confine themselves to family and friends. They can have outreach to the community with varying levels of fanfare, reflecting the community's life in many ways. Or they can work anywhere in between. We'll share ideas and news of such activies as they become available.
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PRINCIPLES

All Pennies campaigns follow three basic principles:

• FIRST - Each is all-volunteer, community-based and -run, and independent.

• SECOND - Each youth campaign has a responsible adult mentor and point of contact.

• And THIRD - All campaigns donate 100% of funds collected to a nonprofit charity or good cause, which it identifies publicly during the campaign. (These may include their own, such as a school's scholarship fund or a community arts project.)

Pennies will happily post information on this page for any group, mentor, or booster who adheres to these guidelines.
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BENEFITS OF PENNIES

A "Pennies from Heaven" campaign obviously benefits the recipients of the donation. But it will also benefit an ever-widening circle of others, throughout the community and perhaps beyond:

• The participating children themselves will gain valuable skills and experience in at least nine important areas.   1) Their natural idealism and compassion will be affirmed and validated by their own deeds.   2) Each one will feel his or her ability to do something, personally, of real benefit to others - they will experience their personal capability to bring real good and enwholement into the world.   3) They will see how the value of that experience multiplies when they work together, in groups.   4) They will learn leadership, initiative, responsibility, and cooperation - with one another, and with adults.   5) And in so doing, they will help build understanding and respect across generational lines.   6) While engaging the public, they will become more self-confident.   7) Over the course of a campaign they will learn planning and patience.   8) They can develop artistic skills by creating their own signs, collection jar labels, badges, and more.   9) And by looking into possible recipient organizations, they can begin to learn research and analytic skills.

• The adult mentors will experience the satisfaction of guiding the growth of young people in compassion and active involvement, and developing themselves as role models.

• Supportive community groups, organizations, and businesses will gain new visibility and respect in the eyes of the public at large, who in turn will be inspired to a new awareness of compassion, generosity, and civic responsibility.

• And people of different backgrounds, situations and circumstances can come into closer contact, building stronger bridges of understanding in these difficult and divisive times. Pennies campaigns have great potential for bridging intercultural, interfaith, and intergenerational divides.

Pennies looks forward to posting the stories of how your campaign benefits those it touches.
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An IDEA:  INTERCULTURAL COMMUNITY CAMPAIGNS

In an era stricken with xenophobia and strife, areas with diverse populations have a special opportunity. If, for example, groups of children from Christian, Jewish, Islamic, and secular communities get together for a common campaign, and join to make a single, combined contribution to a worthy cause, they would serve as inspirations and edifying role models for many of their elders.
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HISTORY AND INSPIRATION

Pennies from Heaven arose in reply to the extraordinary suffering of a number of children, one in particular, and in sorrow at the deaths of three. It is offered with great respect and love to the happiness, the enwholement, and the wellbeing of all children, born and unborn.

One evening in the waning days of the summer of 1968, Pennies' original inspiration took place in the church and school community of St. Michael the Archangel in suburban Overlea, Maryland. (Years later St. Michael's was to become the home of the first actual campaign. During the year-end holiday season of 1999/2000, members of the community's Holy Name Society conducted the campaign, and gathered over $75 for charity.)

The pain and the love of one child of Baltimore had planted the seed that in subsequent years was watered with the difficult lives and occasionally the deaths of several other children. From the shimmering summer streets of long ago to the battlefields of Vietnam, to the horrific scenes in the pediatric burn unit of Baltimore's Key Medical Center and beyond, young lives reached out for balm and for light.

In early autumn of 2005, students and families of Forestville Elementary School in Great Falls, Virginia held a very successful independent campaign in behalf of Hurricane Katrina survivors. They raised over $12,000, and consolidated their collections with the help of the local Chevy Chase Bank branch and its manager, Goli Youchidje. The link in this paragraph, above, will take you to that story as reported in The Connection Newspapers. (NOTE: Their campaign was completely unrelated to this page.)

The basic Pennies activity is modeled on the "Trick or Treat for UNICEF" campaigns that began in the 1950s. In those years the children of Forestville, Virginia, now known as Great Falls, first participated in several, facilitated largely by the family-friendly Forestville/Great Falls United Methodist Church. On Hallowe'en twilights they went door to door, collecting change for this cause and evoking smiles from their elders while helping their less-fortunate peers overseas. (The UNICEF campaigns continue to the present day. You can reach them through the link below.)

Additional inspirations include the work of the Shriners Childrens Hospitals everywhere; the Helzberg Foundation, home of the "I am Loved" button; Giant Foods' Richard Tubbs and his "Have a Heart" campaign of the 1980s; the "Trick or Treat for UNICEF" program; the Academic Club Methodology(tm) of Sally L. Smith and The Lab School of Washington, DC; and the lives of Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama, and Anne Frank.
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This section carries alphabetically-posted links to groups and organizations that specialize in activities for children or that young people themselves participate in, or both - charities that resonate strongly with Pennies, its values and mission. These links were validated and updated on Thursday, November 16.

Locally-based activities usually have volunteer opportunities, especially at holiday-time. We also welcome national and global groups that have Baltimore/DC local activities.

For more information, or to have your activity posted, contact pennies( AT )geotrees.com.

(Update Monday, November 27:  Under Construction.   The request for child-oriented charities went out late Sunday, the 26th, and Pennies has already received a number of good leads and links. We're posting them as quickly as we can - if you don't see yours yet, please be patient!)

• Beacon House:   www.beaconhousedc.org/
        "...is a neighborhood-based organization that supports at-risk youth and families of the Edgewood Terrace community in Washington, D.C. Beacon House offers educational, cultural, recreational and athletic programs.
        "Founded in 1991 by Reverend Donald E. Robinson, a Unitarian Universalist (UU) Minister, Beacon House provides a wide range of opportunities for learning to increase the likelihood of high school graduation, and eventual involvement in higher education, vocational training, or other productive adult work paths.
        "Each year, Beacon House serves over 300 youth through after school and summer academic enrichment, mentoring, cultural, athletic and outreach programs with demonstrated success over the years."
        Phone: (202) 529-7376;   E-mail: staff( AT )beaconhousedc.org.
  (NEW! Monday, November 27, 2006.   Thanks to Joyce Dowlng of PG Interfaith for this lead.)

• The Helzberg Foundation:   www.iamloved.org/
        "Spread the Message of Love" with this foundation, home of the "I am Loved" button campaign since 1967, and key to Pennies' original inspiration of . An activity of the Helzberg Diamonds company.

• Three Campaigns for the Nickel Mines Amish School Victims
  (Updated on Monday, October 8, 2007.)
  
  
  1.   The Bart Township Fire Company:   www.bart51.com/
        As of autumn 2007, the fire company's site includes a link to updates on events and care arising out of the Nickel Mines tragedy.

  2.   The Mennonite Foundation's Fund:   www.afweb.org/foundation/nmsvictimsfund/
        The Foundation thanks all those who supported and contributed, and reports that over $1.8 million was received.
        "Upon request from the Nickel Mines Accountability Committee (a group of community leaders appointed by Amish leadership to administrate this fund) Anabaptist Foundation has created a fund for the Victims of Nickel Mines School Tragedy.      
        "Anabaptist Foundation is a public foundation governed by an independent 10-member board. The board is deliberately drawn from different sectors of our conservative Anabaptist community, and reflects a mix of business experience, professional training, pastoral experience, and nonprofit administration."
        Phone: (814) 531-1023.
  
  3.   The Mennonite Disaster Service:   mds.mennonite.net/
        This page now has an update issued on September 12, 2007.

• St. Baldrick's Foundation:   www.stbaldricks.org
        "St. Baldrick's is a whimsical twist on St. Patrick's Day - when brave volunteers agreed to shave their heads bald to raise funds for childhood cancer research. . . In our first year together as an independent St. Baldrick's Foundation, we raised over $5.3 million. . . St. Baldrick's began with three people who wanted to make a difference, and chose to help children with cancer. Today, the St. Baldrick's Foundation unites thousands of volunteers whose shared mission - to shave the way to a cure - has captured the enthusiasm and devotion of people around the world."
        Northern Virginia Contact: The Old Brogue Irish Pub, Great Falls, Virginia. The Brogue is looking for a volunteer organizer for the 2007 campaign. Interested? Call the Brogue and ask for Mike.
        Phone: (703) 759-3309.
  (NEW! December 1, 2006.   Thanks to Steve Sheldon of The Old Brogue for this lead.)

• Santa Claus Anonymous:   www.santaclausanonymous.com/
        "A Baltimore area charity dedicated since 1934 to: 'Give a Child a Christmas' by providing anonymous monetary support in the form of gift certificates to parents or guardians of underprivileged children in Baltimore City and the following counties in Maryland: Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Cecil, Harford, Howard."
        Phone: (410) 685-4830;   E-mail: blb317( AT )aol.com.

• SecretSanta.org:   www.secretsanta.org/
        "SecretSanta.org is a (nationwide) non-profit (501c-3) organization that connects individuals with local toy drives -- helping drive much-needed support, gifts and donations to children during the holiday season. Christmas is a time for giving and charity. More than any other time of year, the holiday season serves as a time when people are reminded to give to those less fortunate, especially children in need of good cheer. SecretSanta.org goal is to be a catalyst in connecting people with local toy drives and charitable organizations -- helping people find their Christmas Spirit, and more importantly -- helping children and families in need. SecretSanta.org was founded in the summer of 2001."
  (NEW! November 3, 2006   Thanks to the Adams Morgan discussion list on Yahoogroups for this lead)

• Shriners Hospitals for Children:   www.shrinershq.org/Hospitals/_Hospitals_for_Children/default.aspx
        "Shriners Hospitals for Children is a network of pediatric specialty hospitals, founded by the Shrine, where children under the age of 18 receive excellent medical care absolutely free of charge."

• Toys for Tots:   www.toysfortots.org/
        "Mission: To collect new, unwrapped toys during October, November and December each year and distribute those toys as Christmas gifts to needy children in the community in which the campaign is conducted. Goal: To deliver, through a shiny new toy at Christmas, a message of hope to needy youngsters that will motivate them to grow into responsible, productive, patriotic citizens and community leaders." Very active in the Baltimore area for many years. Baltimore's FM 98 Rock is an especially active partner in 2006.

• Trick or Treat for UNICEF:   www.unicef.org/support/14884_14838.html
        "The tradition of 'Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF' began in 1950 in the United States when Philadelphia school children first went door-to-door at Hallowe'en collecting money in decorated milk cartons to help the world's children." The tradition continues...

• The Urban Rangers Education Fund:   www.urbanrangersdc.com
        "The Urban Rangers Education Fund, a ten year old grassroots non-profit, helps two dozen DC youngsters in various ways. We begin with school and sports supplies and we range up to buying a computer for a freshman in college, helping to pay for books and small amounts of tution in college. We buy school clothes for kids and winter coats--and we even pay for summer dance lesssons for a kid at Duke Ellington. We've helped kids take special trips with school or local youth groups.
        "We do not give once and stop. We track these kids and help them find tutors and colleges. We start with them at age 10 or so and still work with many in their 20's."
        Phone: (202) 332-0774;   E-mail: KDavisdc( AT )aol.com.
  (NEW! November 27, Monday, 2006.   Thanks to Katie Davis of the Urban Rangers for this lead)

DISCLOSURE and CONTACT

This page is an independent activity of Geotrees.Com, and maintained out of Great Falls / Forestville, Virginia; it is not affiliated with any other group. Pennies' editor was a member of the St. Michael the Archangel of Overlea youth ministry, 1999-2001, is a member of St. Michael's Holy Name, and has taken the Virtus "Protecting Our Children" training in northern Virginia. The Forestville Elementary activity is completely independent.

Your ideas, questions, suggestions, and stories are always welcome at pennies( AT )geotrees.com.
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