DECEMBER 2007 E-NEWSLETTER

May the power of children and the promise of community brighten your holiday season!

Happy Holidays from our Common Cents family to yours!  As the year draws to a close, we'd like to share some highlights from 2007: As you are reading this, an entire city block shimmers with up to $1 million in pennies gathered by our Penny Harvest school children.  Tens of thousands of children, parents and teachers have already visited the Penny Harvest Field at Rockefeller Center, with more arriving everyday.  We encourage you to experience the Penny Harvest Field in person...it will be on display until December 31st. 2007 brought brilliant national and local news attention.  The generosity of children who gather pennies, make grants and take action through the Penny Harvest continually amaze us, and we are thrilled to get a few of their stories out to the world: NBC Today Show appearance NY Times article "A Walkway Paved with Pennies, for the Sake of Charity", December 4, 2007 Oprah credits Penny Harvest with sparking her Angel Network And this just in: NY1 has named Common Cents their "New Yorker of the Year."  A 30 minute special including the Penny Harvest will air sometime after Christmas (details coming). This year, Common Cents welcomed three new Penny Harvest partner sites, doubling the number of students and schools we are reaching outside of NYC.  The Florida Alliance for Student Service, the Young Philanthropists Foundation (Colorado) and the Pencil Foundation (Nashville,Tennessee) joined our existing sites in New York City, the Capital Region of NY and Seattle, WA. We were also honored as a Bertelsmann Prize finalist by the international Carl Bertelsmann Foundation.  The theme of the 2007 prize was "Educating Role Models - Civic Engagement as a Educational Goal".  A prize/research committee examined more than 200 programs across 12 countries effectively promoting civic engagement among children.  Chosen as one of the top four programs in the world, we were invited to present the Penny Harvest at an international symposium in Germany, where Executive Director Teddy Gross delivered a paper.Click here to see our video submitted for the awards ceremony. In the midst of all the excitement, we continue to do the critical day to day work of Common Cents.  We are getting ready to train hundreds of Penny Harvest teachers this January, and support school and student grant making and service this spring. "When I think about people not having enough, I want to help them.  I feel sorry for them, but I'm a little kid.  Before the Penny Harvest, I never thought a penny was important.  But now I see that pennies add up to a lot of money.  The money can help make schools better, or clean parks, or even be given to the poor people." --Kiran, R., 3rd grade, PS161 New York City

Thank you all who have supported Common Cents and the Penny Harvest this year. Our work is far from done!  Your support NOW is critical to help us deliver the Penny Harvest to every child and school that wants to participate.  Every penny (and dollar!) counts.  Please consider making a contribution to our annual fund today.  All our best, Common Cents staff...Monique Achu, Lashon Allen, Chris Baez, Jamila Baucom, Anthony Berthel, Seth Cohen, Andi Dube, Joanna Geller, Teddy Gross, Kylie Gursky, Sandra Henry, Nur Ibrahim, Maggie Jacoby, Gracie Rifino, Melissa Rozon, Adam Seidel, Erin Shakespeare, Avanti Taneja, Jason Webster P.S. Looking for a last minute gift?  Give the gift of giving to New York City children.  For $500 you can sponsor the Penny Harvest in a NYC school.  Your support will provide the curriculum, supplies and resources children use to gather pennies, make grants and take action.  Sponsor a school now, and watch their efforts go from pennies to promise.