Got Cents?

Christmas is the Power of ONE (live from Ethiopia)

2008-12-24T07:18:00.000-08:00

As our small American team settles into Christmas Eve, we marvel at the sights and sounds of the people of Ethiopia. Although we have visited this marvelous and impoverished country many times, something magical settles over us as we acknowledge the power of the season.

We have been in Ethiopia four days now, but today we spent our first full day in the northern Tigray region. Presently, we are staying with the Oasis Foundation in Shire, near Enda Salassie, a few-hour walk to the Eritrean border and a few-hour drive to Sudan or Axum.

There are no Christmas ornaments or trees anywhere to be found and no one is anxious for gifts. Rather, the people of this region are focused on survival through subsistence – the ability to raise just enough food or money to care for their family – usually with less than $2.00USD per day.

This morning, I visited a relatively new cooperative started by the Oasis Foundation for female heads of households. The Oasis Foundation, started by Karin van den Bosch just three years ago, has been given small tracts of land here in Shire in order to start woman’s cooperatives. Typically, with the equivalent of $800 USD and a small land grant from the government, the Oasis Foundation helps a group of 30 women form a cooperative, fence the property, dig wells, obtain seed, and plant crops for cash and food. Because the land belongs to the cooperative, the women are keen to care for it carefully and to guard it against cattle over grazing and other threats.

Five months after the first seedlings were planted, the woman’s cooperative I visited this morning was harvesting a crop of chickpeas and fillings sacks for sale at the market. With just $800 USD, two hectares and five months into the project, the women are already self-sustaining.

Karin is pleased. Years ago when she came to Ethiopia from Holland as a Christian missionary to live and to serve, she wasn’t quite sure what God had in mind. Today, she manages a number of projects in and around Shire. Of course, she is quick to note that “she” doesn’t do anything, but rather it is all done by “us” or “we” – a reference that, she reveals only when I ask, refers the 37 Ethiopians on staff with the Oasis Foundation and, most importantly, her trust in this partnership with God. (If you get the chance, try asking Karin how she does her fundraising, but don't be surprised if she says she doesn't.)

Of course Karin is best known for her work establishing and operating Grace Village, the only orphanage in the region. Grace Village currently cares for 47 orphan children with “house mothers” – usually women who are unable to return to their prior lives and villages after suffering and healing from obstetric fistulas. Karin’s work at Grace Village is powerfully featured in the documentary, “A Walk to Beautiful.”

But Karin has become so well known for her success in caring for the physical, educational and spiritual needs of the children at Grace Village, the local and national governments of Ethiopia have regularly asked her to “help” with other projects. So, today, Oasis Foundation runs Grace Village, four health projects (including three clinics), a school and now four cooperatives for women head of households. And although the latter projects serves 120 households in the Region, Tedessa, the Assistant Director of the Oasis Foundation notes that the government of Ethiopia estimates that the region presently holds 4,800 female head of households living at subsistence levels.

So, as the sun is setting and a billion stars begin to emerge in the country sky, I can truly see shepherds in the distance, tending to their flocks by night. I find myself marveling at the power of Karin’s life on this region. And I find myself marveling at the power of the one life 2,000 years ago.

And that’s when I realize the power of one.

My family and I have long been strong proponents of the ONE campaign and its efforts through ONE.org. Birthed in wish list of Bono following his receipt of a TED award, ONE has produced an impact in policy on behalf of the world's least powerful through a simple idea -- the power of one voice, coming together with millions of others as ONE.

But here, this evening of Christmas Eve, in the northern most parts of Ethiopia, I reflect on a different power of one -- the power that one life can have on the lives of others.

That’s when I remember the words of Nelson Mandela:

“When you let your own light shine, you unconsciously give others permission to do the same.”

Merry Christmas from Ethiopia!

World AIDS Day 2008

2008-12-01T21:41:00.000-08:00

Quietly, and without much notice or fanfare, the world again remembered the impact of the AIDS pandemic -- the more than 25 million mothers, sisters, aunts, grandmothers, daughters, fathers, sons, brothers, uncles, grandfathers who are infected with the HIV virus.

Today, individuals (in groups and alone) remembered the 19 million sub-Saharan Africans who have died of HIV/AIDS including more than 6,000 who died today, and the more than 8,000 who are infected today (including 1,400 African children born today with HIV transmitted from their mothers).

Quietly, but not without deep pain, we whisper, "we care." And we vow not to stop caring!

And we ask, "what now shall we do?"

A Brilliant Trifecta

2008-09-07T19:29:00.001-07:00

On Tuesday of the Republican National Convention, in Ballroom B of the Minneapolis Convention Center, World Vision, The ONE Campaign, and Got Cents hosted Cindy McCain, First Lady Laura Bush, Senator Bill Frist, David Lane, and others at our biggest penny display to date. Building 2,500 caregiver kits and displaying 6,100,000 pennies, the partnership created an inescapable buzz throughout the convention hall all afternoon. The secret-service sweep of the room, the endless reorganization to ensure the best event for all, the briefing of all the teams, and the influx of excited republican convention goers and WV and ONE volunteers added to the already amazing afternoon.

Each partner brought such a unique gift to the party.

ONE – Nicole, Tyler, Paul (and many others!) – somehow managed to construct beautifully what would have otherwise been a madhouse circus into a once in a lifetime experience to hear the gracious and profound words of Mrs. McCain, First Lady Laura Bush, and Senator Frist regarding our responsibility to take action on behalf of those around the world who are suffering from HIV/AIDS and living in extreme poverty. I believe Mrs. McCain’s words especially inspired us to put aside our politics and focus on the reality of need for many in the developing world. (Watch and listen here!) [Warning! This is a long video. Got Cents? is mentioned several times in the first few minutes, but not thereafter. All of the speeches are great, however.]

World Vision – Cassie, Dana, Toby (McKesson ☺), Dave, Jason, Jen, Anne, and Debbie masterfully crafted a service experience connecting American leaders with African caregivers that no one will soon forget. The tangible act of building a caregiver kit for one individual caregiver that will enable them to care for 6 or more clients excited even the most skeptical of participants.

Even our tiny "mom and pop" charity, Got Cents?, faithfully transformed 1220 bags of pennies into an AIDS ribbon representing the 6.1 million sub-Saharan African lives lost to AIDS since our last presidential election. Mouths opened and jaws dropped as people walked through the doors of the ballroom. From outside the ballroom the shimmering pennies drew people inside to ask questions and ponder at the reality that the display captured.

A slew of press began arriving hours before the event in preparation for the VIPS. Most seemed hurried and on a mission as they first walked through the door only to suddenly slow their gait as they took in their surroundings. Although many members of the press dawned cameras, pads of paper, microphones, and laptops, one member of the press stood out from the rest. Michael Geheren, a thirteen-year-old from Chicago, represented Scholastic News and interviewed me right before our event commenced. What a treat to share a little bit about World Vision, ONE, and Got Cents with a whole host of young teens who constantly burst forth with creative ideas of how to get involved and make a difference in the world. We hope they catch the vision and do even more than we could to fight AIDS and extreme poverty!

We cannot fully express our amazement at the success of this event. Hearing David Lane and Dana Buck’s gracious and supportive words about Got Cents and Mrs. McCain, Mrs. Bush, and Senator Frist’s enthusiasm for the event, the partnership, and fighting AIDS and poverty through service, both humbled and excited us. We met amazingly talented and compassionate people at all levels of government and from all sectors of society. Even more powerful and life changing events will take place because of yesterday’s event – I hope we are able to be a part of it all!

Day Two (with ONE and World Vision)

2008-08-27T19:18:00.000-07:00

What an honor!

First, just to honor that many Africans and their lives cut short by AIDS with our penny display. Our 6.1 million pennies weighed nearly 20 tons and, if stacked one penny on top of the other, would reach six miles into the sky. To see it and to understand what each penny represents, leaves no one unchanged.

Second, to partner with two such amazing organizations in their "Un-conventional convention" activity - making caregiver kits for African volunteers who are caring for their neighbors. Each one brought something amazing to the table that made the day an incredible experience.

To get a sense of what the day was like, take a look at the video picture put together by our friend, World Vision staff person and "official Got Cents? photographer" for the day, Jason Miles:

Find more videos like this on

Caregiver Kit Initiative - Community Pages

When we met David Lane, the President and CEO of ONE (also known to many as "The ONE Campaign" or "ONE.org" or that cool organization that has interesting commercials with Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, George Clooney, and hundreds of others talking about extreme poverty), we joked that we knew him well from our e-mail relationship.

[BTW: If you have no idea why that is funny, then please go to www.one.org and sign up now so that your voice will be heard along with millions of others saying, "we MUST end extreme poverty in the world"]

ONE is an incredible organization that emerged from three forces - a vision, a wish and action through advocacy for the world's poor. The vision was for Bono to use his global celebrity status as an advocate without borders for the world's poorest of the poor. The wish came during his acceptance speech at the TED awards three years ago. And from that wish developed ONE.org, an organization that mobilizes millions of people in the Western world to raise their voices on behalf of eliminating extreme poverty.

In typical fashion for ONE (and carrying on the tradition of Bono), ONE does not have an agenda that is partisan in any way. Their message is agnostic when it comes to any political preference for a political party. Thus, Senator Bill Frist and former Majority Leader and Senator Tom Daschle are the co-chairs of ONE.

At this event, David Lane spoke and so did Tom Daschle. More importantly than their rousing speeches, however, was their leadership by example as they both stepped in line with the hundreds of volunteers and began building AIDS Caregiver Kits.

ONE was the primary organizer of the Un-Conventional Convention - a gathering place during each of the political party conventions around the idea that there are no political boundary lines on the issues of extreme poverty and AIDS. At today's event, David Lane spoke of the power of people coming together to do something. He spoke of the power of ONE's "ONE Vote '08" campaign and the new commercial they've released showing the power of all of us acting as one.

World Vision is perhaps the largest private relief agency in the world. (I've heard figures that would put their relief work behind only the United Nations.) Christian-run, they never preach or show judgment. Rather, the people we have had the honor to work with simply put love into action. Their caregiver kits are just one example. To date, they have built several hundred thousand of these kits, containing basic supplies: flashlight, notebooks, pens, rubber gloves, cotton balls, anti-fungal cream, Vaseline, acetametaphin, soap, wash cloths and other basics that we take for granted, but that are highly prized in Africa.

Better yet, these folks have developed an amazing system for supporting community groups who want to participate: each kit costs approximately $27 to supply and ship, but World Vision provides all the supplies, the training for how to run a kit build (big or small), and handles the shipping.

Perhaps the best of all, each kit contains a personal card from the builder, containing a greeting, a prayer or a special thought for the caregiver. We've been told that long after the supplies have disappeared from use, that the caregivers continue to carry the card as a reminder that someone in the United States cared that much!

What a radically positive and simple way for every person to be empowered to "do something" about the global AIDS pandemic!! (It fits so well with our little motto: "Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can, it will be enough!")

World Vision supplied the entire caregiver kit build for today's event. They and their staff, made it possible for delegates, students of Manual High School and volunteers (young and old) to "do something!" Their staff showed people how and why. Their speakers gave people a sense of passion around what they were doing - Princess Zulu from Zambia who is HIV positive and has lost most of her immediate family to AIDS, spoke from her personal experience and passion, and Chris Daughtry and the band, Daughtry, spoke from a sense of empowerment and passion, and with a heart of compassion for the suffering people in the world. What a treat!!

There can be no question that this "little penny project" grabbed some attention.

Not only did it make the news, but also the ONE.org blog. But perhaps the better indication of impact comes from three little stories from the day.

First, as the focal point when people walked in the door, this "little 75 foot by 30 foot penny AIDS ribbon" stopped people in their tracks. With one little sign at the entrance that read, "1 Presidential term = 6.1 million lives lost to AIDS," each person was required to confront what that meant. Those people walking through the door included those with notable public names: Daughtry, Lane, Zulu, Daschle, and others, but it also included the real superstars of the day -- the dozens of ONE volunteers and hundreds of participants who came alone, with friends, with children or as families to build caregiver kits. The comments we received ranged from, "that's incredible," and "how tragic," to "how much does that weigh."

Second, the half dozen or so teachers from Manual High School who brought their students down for a short presentation from each of the non-profits, may never know the impact they had (or will have) on these students through this event. Sure, there was the one special education student who couldn't stop shaking from being hugged by Daughtry, but there was also the special education student who wouldn't leave before she had gone through her entire backpack and pencil case to find every piece of change that she might contribute. As she was leaving she said, "I want to do this more." We handed her a card and told her we'd be honored to help.

Finally, there was the clean-up. I know this will sound funny to the uninitiated, but to be there with 30 ONE.org volunteers, many World Vision staff and our little volunteer team, cleaning up 6.1 million pennies was almost a spiritual experience. Here we were, working alongside people we had never met, sweating, getting dirty, many of us sitting on the floor simply picking up pennies, but sharing a common purpose and ethos -- to do something to help end extreme poverty, to feel as if we had made a small impact on the issue of the AIDS pandemic. In those moments, we learned a little about the heart of the person we were working alongside. We were given the opportunity to encourage and be encouraged by so many people who cared. We were given the honor to participate by getting our hands dirty and "doing something" with a purpose far bigger than ourselves.

And, by the way, we cleaned up all those pennies in 45 minutes!! What an amazing team of volunteers!!

I'll try to tell more stories later. In the meantime, I've invited Eliza, Lil, Emily, Courtney and Aimee to share reflections and stories from the day. As soon as I have those, I'll post them (along with more pictures)!

Thanks to our amazing team!! Next time we do this, we a thinking we should have the advance team, the set-up team, the education team and the tear-down team.

19,000,000 here we come!

Day One Addendum

2008-08-27T14:34:00.000-07:00

Although I wrote the entry for "Day ONE," I was reminded by the five who were present that "you don't know what it feels like to lift that many pennies." So, I invited the Got Cents? team to write some entries. Eliza posts the following from the work on Monday:

Have you ever heard of cross-training or cross-fit? It’s probably the most intense set of workouts and fitness philosophy I’ve ever tried . . . . until today that is. If you want to get in shape, build muscle, and still have that “do good” glow about you, I’ll tell you the secret: lift 2 tons of pennies every day.* That’s what we each did today and what we will each do again tomorrow . . . and then again next week!

*tip – lift from the knees

(While I hesitate to correct Eliza, there were nearly 20 tons of pennies involved, so the five women probably each lifted closer to four tons each.)

Needless to say, we’re exhausted. Almost 20 tons of pennies now rest on the floor of Manual High School here in Denver. I am impressed – not with our work, but with the fact that those 6,100,000 pennies each have a name. Each of those pennies once breathed life. Four years ago each of those pennies lived in sub-Saharan Africa. Today they exist in memory and in dust.

Walking around 6.1 million pennies I thought, “If I were God how would I love all of these people?” While many theological questions/debates swirl around in that wondering moment, I won’t really tackle them here. I will say, however, that meditating on the meaning of those 6.1 million pennies in the context of a loving creator was very humbling.

I hope that tomorrow the school will fill with participants, all willing to go through the journey of reflection that Aimee and I did this afternoon. I hope they travel further than we did on a path of compassion and action. I hope that 6.1 million little copper/zinc pieces of metal display the gravity of the crisis as well as the simple ways individuals can help.

Day One

2008-08-25T19:31:00.000-07:00

Today was a brutal work day for everyone on our little rag-tag team of volunteers. Lil, Emily, Courtney, Eliza and Aimee were greeted around 10:30 a.m. by the first of TWO Brinks trucks loaded with pallettes of pennies.

Hours later, nearly 20 tons of pennies were unloaded and arranged in the shape of a giant AIDS ribbon.

Tomorrow, we will show off the display to those who come to Manual High School, approximately 20 minutes from the Pepsi Center.

Tomorrow, we will also show off a new video about our little penny project.

But today, you can be the first to view it.

Tomorrow, we promise pictures!

Understanding Large Numbers

2008-08-21T02:36:00.000-07:00

Just to get my head around the numbers, I searched the internet using "understanding large numbers." Thanks a million to Bob Peterson (repmilw@aol.com) who posted the following in the Fall 2003 blog of Rethinking Schools. Bob teaches fifth grade at La Escuela Fratney in Milwaukee.

Before delving into budget issues, I do a couple of activities to help children put meaning behind place value . . . .
I asked the students, "How many days equals a million seconds? After some initial guesses, the students worked as a group with calculators using different strategies to solve the problem. Eventually, they came up with about 11.8 days.

I then asked how long it would take for us to count to a million. Some students suggested we just do it and time ourselves. Others were more skepitcal. After some practice with six-digit numbers we estimated it would take, on the average, about two seconds a number. Some more calculation and the class realized it would take a little over 23 days. "I'm not going to be wasting my time doing that," one student proclaimed.

To visualize a million, I asked the students to look closely at a strand of their hair and then I told them that if one piled a million of those on top of each other it would reach up to a seven story building. I also showed the students the book How Much Is a Million? by David Schwartz (Scholastic, 1985). Some of the pages are filled with tiny stars -- 14,364 per page. The book encourages students to guess how many pages of stars it would take to reach a million, and they are surprised to find it would take 70 pages.

In pennies, if you stacked a million pennies, it would reach almost a mile high. Check it out!

Multiply that by 6.1.

Shout Out To Denver and MSP... and political commentary

2008-08-14T12:20:00.000-07:00

[Welcome to the Got Cents? Blog! Today, we are happy to introduce Eliza Kienitz, our new interim Executive Director, as the guest blogger. In addition to Eliza's experience in the non-profit world and her passion for the Caregiver Kit program, Eliza has an amazing heart for the people of Africa. We think you will know what we mean once you are done reading this post!]

Alright, so now the countdown begins.

It seems as though life has been filled with a lot of numbers lately - numbers of Caregivers: 59,900; number of Caregiver Kits at the conventions: 4,000; number of pennies: 6,100,000; number of sub-Saharan African men, women, and children who have died of AIDS since 1982: 19,000,000; percent of sub-Saharan Africa HIV+ individuals receiving medication: 17%; number of deaths per day due to AIDS: 6,600; - these numbers are swarming around in my head along with: 10 - the number of days left until the Denver convention!

The hype around the conventions is greater this year than any other election year in my short election history . . . this will be the 7th election through which I have been in existence. :) I have heard everything from emphatic praise of candidates to prayers for rain at conventions as some sort of sign from the Almighty as to his preference of national leadership. There have been millions upon millions of dollars spent on buttons, posters, ads, counter-attack ads, TV appearances, websites, videos . . . I do really wonder how many opinions have changed over the last two years of campaigning. Perhaps my own semi-cynical view of politics leads me to be unimpressed with the general over-spending and hype of elections.

The things that are not usually hyped - the non-partisan issues - can, however, shed light on the ability of our government and our leadership to work together. That, after all, is what has created a successful and relatively peaceful country of vastly diverse people - working together. The President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is just one of the examples of an issue with deep support from both sides of the aisle. Yet how many of us know about it's importance and the importance of supporting other organizations devoted to meeting the needs of some of the most marginalized and overlooked folks on our planet.

We are excited that this year many delegates, party leaders, and individuals will be able to participate in fulfilling our human instinct to give, love, and support our fellow human beings. Building Caregiver Kits in Denver and Minneapolis, displaying and sharing the story of 6,100,000 pennies and the lives they represent, rocks the coolness meter. This is an awesome opportunity!!

. . . the best part?? YOU can participate too!

If you're in Denver or MSP COME and build kits with us! Just sign up here
and join us on the Tuesday of each convention!

Even if you're not in Denver or MSP you can participate by donating to Change for a Penny, sending us your thoughts and prayers, working with us in the Bay Area as we lead up to an even bigger display on World AIDS Day in December, or hosting a penny drive and display of your own.

Contact us - we're excited to partner with folks as confident and hopeful as we are in how one life can make a difference!

--

Eliza Kienitz
Interim Executive Director, Change For a Penny
www.gotcents.org
650.575.7795 (m)

The Significance of 6,100,000

2008-08-12T16:51:00.000-07:00

A little less than four years ago, this country held a presidential election. (If you hadn't noticed we are getting ready to do it again.)

A little less than four years ago, 6,100,000 Africans were still alive with AIDS.

In less than four years!

6,100,000!

It really staggers the mind. In fact, I can barely comprehend what it looks like when someone says, there are 6,100,000 of this or that.

So, that's the number of pennies we will display at the Republican and the Democratic National Conventions!

On August 26, in Denver and on September 2, in Minneapolis/St. Paul, we will be working alongside World Vision and ONE to let everyone know, especially our elected officials and the delegates we have empowered to nominate them, that:

ONE person can make a difference!
There are 6,000 reasons every day to make today the day to do something!
6,100,000 lives lost during one US Presidential Election cycle is a crisis!

Stay tuned!!

It's Not Left or Right, but Doing What's RIGHT!

2008-07-29T15:47:00.000-07:00

Change for a Penny is headed to the National Conventions!

Both!

Denver and Minneapolis/St. Paul.

In conjunction with World Vision and the ONE Campaign, our "Got Cents?" campaign will display pennies at the National Conventions as a representation of how many people have died of AIDS in Africa.

Why?

Because doing what is right, is not a matter of Left or Right or any other political or cultural color, but rather is a matter where we can all make a difference.

Start where you are,
Use what you have,
Do what you can,
It will be enough!

Todd

GotCents? Makes a Movie

2007-05-28T22:39:00.000-07:00

A big thanks to everyone who has helped (so far). ;-)

A Weekend to Remember

2006-12-10T23:14:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we celebrated!

Bwalya picked up a handful of pennies and gave them names -- three for his brothers, one for his work colleague, one for each of his brothers' wives -- and we remembered and celebrated their lives.

600 volunteers showed up and put together 8,000 kits to send to African volunteers who are caring for neighbors living with HIV/AIDS. We celebrated the gifts and encouragement of volunteers!

Newspapers

and televisions showed up with cameras.

Podcasters

came with recorders. Families read about pennies in the paper and showed up after breakfast on Saturday morning with hands full of pennies. We celebrated a growing awareness in our community.

Parents stood next to signs and displays and explained the pandemic to their children. We celebrated the opportunity for families to talk about AIDS.

We could not believe that this all started 21 months before with a sacred promise and $100 of pennies. We celebrated what can happen when one family listens to the world's pain and takes a step. We celebrated all the hundreds upon hundreds of people who collected pennies. Over the coming weeks, we will share those stories here. We will share the stories of those who are receiving the funds. And we will continue to celebrate the millions of Americans who are taking the pledge to start where they are, to use what they have and to do what they can.

Remebering Why!

2006-11-26T14:40:00.000-08:00

When we started this campaign, we had never met anyone with HIV or AIDS. We knew it was a mammoth issue and problem, but we didn't know anyone affected by the virus, much less suffering from it.

That all changed in the Summer of 2005 with our first trip to Ethiopia. There, we met Wandemagegn. At six years old, our little friend is being raised by his two sisters, Helen who is 12 and Selam who is 16 -- the same age as our daughters. Their parents died when Wandemagegn was two. Some say his parents died of AIDS.

When we returned this past summer, not much had changed for Wandemagegn and his sisters. They were waiting to move into some new government housing. In the meantime, the place they were living (which could hardly be called a shack) was made with sticks, tarp and some scrap corrugated metal. With one bed on the dirt floor, there was barely enough room for the three of them to move around (much less for our family of four to crowd in to say hello). Even so, they greeted us with joy and hospitality.

We consider these three young people to be part of our family now. We think of them often. We send them small gifts from time to time to show our love. We keep them in our prayers. And so, as we took time this week to sit and give thanks, we gave thanks for Wandemagegn and his sisters. We gave thanks for their health. We gave thanks for our chance to help provide for them. We gave thanks for the things they have taught us about joy and thankfulness, in the midst of suffering and poverty.

And as we gave thanks, we thought of the more than 15,000,000 children like Wandemagegn, Helen and Selam who have lost one or more parents to AIDS in Africa. As we gave thanks, we stopped and remembered why we started collecting pennies. We remembered why we are building caregiver kits. We remembered that, even though we can't fix the problems facing even this one little family, we can do something and it will make a difference.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Last 40 Days

2006-10-24T22:31:00.000-07:00

Twenty months ago, we began collecting pennies. Our original goal was to collect a penny for each person who has died of AIDS in Africa. Although that number cannot be determined for certain, we estimate that 25.4 million Africans have died of AIDS. So, on February 14, 2005, we began collecting pennies - one penny for each person who has died - one penny at a time.

Why?

So that we could see visually what we could not comprehend - the enormity of what was happening in Africa as a result of HIV/AIDS.

Twenty months later, we are humbled and honored by the hundreds of people, from dozens of states around the country who have collected pennies and raised money for this goal. We have so loved hearing from so many of you. We know you care!
We've heard from middle schools and high schools that care!
We've heard from churches and synagogues that care!
We've heard from people in their 80's and children who are pre-schoolers who all asked the same question:
"What can we do to help fight AIDS in Africa?"

Now, as we approach World Aids Day 2006 (December 1st), you can still help! The Got Cents? campaign is ready to make one last 40-day push!!

Why?

Because we have only collected slightly more than 2.3 million pennies;
Because during the same 20 months, nearly 4,000,000 Africans have died of AIDS!
So, as Change for a Penny, Inc. prepares to bid farewell, we ask for your help.
One last time.
Won't you consider a donation? Or passing this along to 10 friends?

And, over the next 40 days, we are committing to stay true to our original goals:
donating every single penny collected to help fight AIDS (none to the costs of the Got Cents? campaign);
and raising AIDS awareness one penny at a time.

We thank you for your help and continued support!

Summer Is Over, Back to Pennies!!

2006-09-20T23:23:00.000-07:00

The kids are back in school, the leaves are starting to turn colors and autumn reminds us that we've taken a long, long break from the penny project. Thankfully, you haven't. We kept up with the e-mails (but not the site or the blog) from all of you who are gearing up to raise pennies this fall.

And we need your help!!!

We have buckets upon buckets of pennies still uncounted and unrolled in our garage. But we need many, many, many more. Ten times more, to be exact. Whoa!!!

To those of you who are faithful readers, think about this . . . .

If 10,000 people made a $25 on-line contribution to GotCents, we'd have the pennies to display on World AIDS Day!

or

If 1,000 people made a $250 on-line contribution

or

If 500 people made a $500 on-line contribution

or . . .

you get the picture.

Tomorrow, I will tell you what we are doing with the money!

-- todd

Planes, Cars and White Bracelets

2006-05-24T22:55:00.000-07:00

Just off the plane @ JFK in NYC. Bleary-eyed and feeling alone and detached.

As I made my way outside to the curb, I caught a glimpse of a white bracelet on the wrist of a 9-year-old girl. I stopped her mom and said, "Is that a ONE bracelet on your daughter's arm?"

Her mom told me how they had been to the U2 concert and her daughter had been taken by the ONE campaign. They signed the declaration and now the little girl (I'm sorry I didn't ask her name) is saving her money to help kids in Africa.

I told her mom that she and her daughter ROCKED!

It makes me believe that perhaps, just perhaps, we could make extreme poverty vanish!!

Just look at the coverage on NBC this week. (If you haven't kept pace, check out the ONE Blog @ www.one.org/blog/ )

Our family is preparing for another trip to Ethiopia at the end of June. I wonder how many white bracelets I might see between now and then? Each one seems to give me a sense of hope and, strangely, a sense of community.

A Milestone (of shame?)

2006-05-11T23:05:00.000-07:00

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!!

Did Change for a Penny Change Anything?

2005-12-02T22:29:00.000-08:00

So, inquiring minds want to know:

Did the penny display happen, even in the midst of a horrible winter storm? Yes!

How'd it go? Wet!

Did the penny display break the Guinness Book of World Records? We don't know. We will get an official count from Brinks this week.

We will load pictures on the display tab of the website.

Thanks to the hundreds of people who have sent in pennies, to the dozens of volunteers who helped us move so many pennies and to the more than 100 people -- friends, supporters, penny collectors, mom, kids, groups and individuals -- who braved the dismal weather to see the display.

It was a dismal day for a dismal disease. But our spirits were bouyed by the interest and support.

ON TO 25.4 MILLION IN 2006!

Just One Day

2005-12-01T06:00:00.000-08:00

I don't think we could say it any better than our new heros, Cara and Dustin Pattison at Bola Moyo. Please take some time to check out what this amazing couple is doing!

"Today is just one in 365. It is the day dedicated to World AIDS; the day we remember that yesterday 6,600 Africans perished from a preventable disease; and that another 8,800 will become infected tomorrow.

But it is also the day we honor those who brave stigma, insults, and death, with the hope that their strength will pave a freer life for their children. On this day, we remember the widow who cares for hundreds of orphaned children, the father who searches high and low for ARV’s for his 6-year-old son, and the doctor who works long hours with little pay to soothe his patients. Today we are conscious that every individual matters, and we, as individuals with knowledge and resources, have a greater responsibility than we once knew.

Today is not the only day." —Cara & Dustin Pattison, Bola Moyo

Bola Moyo

What are you doing on December 1st? Got Cents?

2005-11-15T11:11:00.000-08:00

For those of you keeping track, you can see that the penny campaign broke through the 1.9 million mark last week. We are making plans to display those pennies on December 1st somewhere in the Palo Alto, Menlo Park area. (Stanford Shopping Center hasn't yet agreed, but we are working on them.)

Assuming we get more than two million pennies, the Guiness Book of World Records tells us that it would be the largest penny display ever. (Don't believe us?

Click Here

and search for "Largest Temporary Coin Mural.)

Stay tuned! And keep those pennies coming!

Bono's Three Wishes

2005-09-21T23:16:00.000-07:00

"The scale of the suffering numbs us into a kind of indifference. What on earth can we do?" -- Bono

Nothing beats watching Bono saying it in his own words.

Bono asks TED to grant three wishes

Do you believe dreams can come true?

Bono made his wishes known at the TED Conference earlier this year. Just look at the progress. Interesting coincidence -- that was the same time people started collecting pennies for Got Cents?

BONO'S FIRST WISH: I wish for you to help build a social movement of more than ONE MILLION American activists for Africa.

PROGRESS
- TED tracked down the owners of the url www.one.org, the Jane Addams Hull House, who agreed to lease it to replace theonecampaign.org
- John Gage and his team at Sun built technology that allowed Bono to call on people to sign up via their cell phones during the U2 tour... the texters' names appeared live on screen
- designers from Macromedia, Microsoft, Sun, Tribe and other companies got together to redesign the ONE website enhancing its user appeal
- Philip Berber of A Glimmer of Hope Foundation, heard about the prize and is now providing key financial and technical support for the website
- another TEDster donated a seven-figure sum to Bono's organization DATA

THE RESULT: WISH FULFILLED
- DATA blew through the 1m target in four months, in time for the G8 summit. DATA believe this effort played a material role in moving the White House and helping approve debt cancellations and an increase in AID to Africa worth more than $25 billion a year.

BONO'S SECOND WISH: I wish to tell people ONE BILLION times about ONE, with as much of this as possible before the G8 Africa Summit in July 2005.

PROGRESS
- TEDster John Kamen of Radical Media, created a powerful film devoted to ONE (that was debuted at TED) and has been all over the TV networks and the Internet. Google also contributed adwords.
- TEDster Jay Amato's company Viewpoint negotiated 1.5 BILLION online ad impressions to support the campaign; he was able to negotiate huge online ad commitments from the following companies: 24/7 Real Media, About.com, Accuweather, ad pepper, AOL, Boston.com, Burst Media, CBS, UPN and CBSNews, Ebay, Gamespot, iVillage, MaxOnline, Monster.com, MSN, MSNBC, NowPublic, Right Media, UGO, ValueClick, VIEWPOINT Search, Whitepages.com

THE RESULT: WISH FULFILLED
- the campaign exceeded the one billion impressions target before the G8 summit, and played a material role in delivering the 1m signups achieved.

BONO'S THIRD WISH: I wish for you to show the power of information - its power to rewrite the rules and to transform lives - by connecting every hospital, health clinic, and school in one African country, Ethiopia, to the Internet.

PROGRESS:
- Senior representatives from Sun, AMD, HP, and CISCO plus TEDsters Taylor Milsal and Joseph Mouzon met with DATA for half a day in Palo Alto to brainstorm how to fulfill this wish.
- A meeting was held in New York with economist Jeffrey Sachs' team from Columbia
- As a result of these meetings the TEDPrize team of Chris Anderson and Amy Novogratz took a trip to Addis Ababa, where they were hosted by TEDster Tom Darden's Cherokee House, and met with the Ministries of Health, Information and Building Capacity, The World Bank, State Department, Ethiopian Telecommunications, a number of local NGOs, and visited schools, health clinics and hospitals, to assess technology needs in Ethiopia
- GE offered major support for the project.
- We have formed relationships and created an extensive database of organizations and individuals connected to the development of Ethiopia, out of which we've identified the most promising work being done related to carrying out Bono's wish.
- Currently working with DATA to formulate plan for best way to move forward and will announce to the TED Community by the end of the year.
- Not to state the obvious, but... this one is a challenge!
____________________________________

When One Person Matters

2005-09-15T23:19:00.000-07:00

We keep a jar in our kitchen of pennies collected by some pre-schoolers. 1,400 pennies to be exact. The number is significant. Each day, 1,400 children are born in sub-Saharan Africa with HIV/AIDS or contract the disease as newborns from their mother's milk. Each day, 1,400 children are needlessly sentenced to death, because for a few dollars, these mothers could be treated and could avoid passing the disease along to their children.

Each day we look at the jar and we try to imagine the life represented by each penny inside. What might that little boy or girl grow into. Who might they love or touch.

Today, I stumbled across the life of an 11-year-old girl who has touched many. Her name is Hallie. And although she died tragically last year in an automobile accident, I use the present tense to describe her, because of the impact she is having in the fight against AIDS in Africa.

Hallie is responsible for the daytime soaps collaborating on this issue next month. (See yesterday's post.)

You should definitely take a few minutes and get to know Hallie. She was one amazing little girl.

Love, Hallie

Sort of makes you wonder about the 1,400 children that were born today with HIV/AIDS.

Laura Bush, Soaps and AIDS in Africa?

2005-09-14T21:35:00.000-07:00

Today, I learned that the First Lady visited Africa in July, at the same time I was there. I love the fact that she spoke compellingly today, about our role and responsibility to help in Africa, especially to combat AIDS and educate women.

Laura Bush Speaks on Fighting AIDS, Improving Education in Africa

Perhaps more of a surprise, is the news that multiple daytime soap operas will be highlighting the issue of AIDS in Africa next month.

Daytime Unites for Africa: Soap Operas Call Attention on Air to AIDS Crisis

Next, I'll bet Oprah will want to display our pennies!!

Pennies, the Global Fund and Millenium Goals

2005-09-12T11:55:00.000-07:00

This just in:

Gleneagles money for Africa goes to Iraq

On another note, Change for a Penny passed the 1.7 million penny mark last night. I must confess that I am taken by how close we could get to the shortfall in the Global Fund (as announced in the article above), with just the pennies sitting in our drawers.

What a thought!

Katrina and Human Tragedy

2005-09-02T19:12:00.000-07:00

Today, I noticed this letter to the editor in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

The drowning of New Orleans III

Friday, September 2, 2005

I wonder how many countries from around the world are going to pledge billions in relief dollars to help the United States of America and her people recover from the damages caused by Katrina.
It seems the entire world looks to the United States when they need money for disaster relief -- and if we do not give as many billions as the others think we should freely give, look out, the United States is bad-mouthed. Well, let's see how many countries pledge to give the U.S. billions in relief.

I bet President Bush wishes we still had even some of the money we gave out for the tsunami relief or AIDS in Africa -- not to mention some of the billions spent in Iraq. Some of these billions could have gone to help our own people in our own country -- now that we are going to need help.

Charles Aftosmis
Greensburg

My heart has been breaking all week at the images from Louisiana and Mississippi. And the comparison that has been obvious to me all week, seems to have escaped Charles. The truth is simply this: The people who were left behind in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama and are dying are the poor who could not afford to avoid the disaster. Interesting that it seems to be the same with AIDS in Africa. The people who are dying of AIDS in Africa, by and large, live on less than $1 per day.

I wonder which dollar Charles would have them send for Huricane Katrina relief.

Charles, remember, to whom much is given, much is expected.