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)