A Milestone (of shame?)

On February 14, 2005 (or 15 months ago), we began this journey to collect pennies - one for each person who has died of AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa. Today, more than one year latter, we have not even collected a penny for each person who has died since we began this effort. In 2005 alone, 2.4 million Africans (adults and children) died of AIDS.

You might think we are discouraged.

Think again!

What a treat it has been to meet so many wonderful people who care deeply for people who are dying half way round the world. People like:

Tirany, a freshman at a small college in Georgia, who made it her mission to collect pennies this past year, and recently contributed 19,766 pennies from her efforts; or

The Education Program Students at Congregation Beth Am who have been collecting pennies for months and sent another installment this week of 4,800 pennies; or

Elizabeth, who convinced her manager at Peet's Coffee to allow her to set up some penny jars and is now collecting nearly 25,000 pennies per week.

And that's just this week!!

In each case, these are people we didn't know 15 months ago. In each case, these are people who continue to renew our faith in people as compassionate and caring.

Every week, we enjoy this renewal of faith. It's about time we started to share it!!