Member Weighed Down bySavings

HERNDON, Va. - (05/26/05) -- Tellers at Northwest FCU were ataken-aback to see one of their members weighted down by afive-gallon jug in each hand. The jugs, it turned out, held $8,800in coins, the product of nine-years of savings by Jeffrey Knight, aseven-year member. Knight, 40, said he would empty his pocketsevery night and save anything left over when he broke a dollar.After he heard about a fire that destroyed a nearby home, Knightdecided to bring the change into the credit union and deposited it,without knowing how much he had collected. "He was blown awaybecause he had no idea he had so much coin," Gerrianne Burks, chiefoperating officer for Northwest FCU, told The Credit Union Journal,of what took the credit union member more than two hours to feedthrough the automatic ScanCoin change counter. The coin counter,which is free of charge to members, saved Knight as much as $800because other automatic counters charge a 9% commission, notedBurks. Knight's collection consisted of: 3,292 silver dollars,7,639 half dollars, 4,828 quarters, 2,861 dimes, 1,851 nickels and10,416 pennies--a total of $8,801.31.