Copper Mountain Sprouts In CULobby

MUNISING, Mich. - (02/14/05) -- It took workers at MunisingCommunity CU most of last Tuesday to dig through a mountain ofpennies in the credit union's lobby. At the end of the day itrequired the physical dexterity of a six-year-old with a beach pailto dig out the remainder of the 1.4 million one-cent pieces in thefive-foot tall box that had sat in the credit union lobby for thepast two-and-a-half years. The copper mountain, trucked off tocredit union's cash service, was the result of a fundraising drivefor the Munising Public Library, the victim of local budget cuts,according to Rick Gatiss, president of the $20 million creditunion. "This really was a worthwhile event," Gatiss told The CreditUnion Journal. Throughout the fundraising campaign, members, localresidents and tourists took turns tossing copper pieces into thebin. Coins were discovered from several foreign countries,including Switzerland, the Netherlands, Malaysia and China. Therewas also a nail, guitar pick, various tokens, buttons and a stickof Big Red chewing gum. The pile of pennies was counted, thendeposited into bags with 5,000 each--$50--a total of 282 bags,before being carted off.