A Brilliant Trifecta

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)

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

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

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

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

[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)

GotCents? Makes a Movie

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