When One Million Pennies Equals More Than$100,000

BEL AIR, Md. - (01/30/06) – The member servicerepresentatives at HAR-CO Maryland FCU will be weighted down withcharity Monday morning. That’s when they start counting morethan one million pennies–an estimated three tons--raised byelementary students at nearby St. Margaret’s School for thebenefit of a sister school in impoverished Haiti. Later this week,parents and students will work together to bag the mountain ofcopper, which will be picked up by an armored vehicle from thecredit union. Teachers saw the purpose of the Million Penny Projectas two-fold; the first was to illustrate the concept of a millionto students, but also that all those pennies can add up to make adifference for the poor children at St. Rose of Lima School inHaiti, which St. Margaret School has supported since 2001. Sincethen the local elementary school has embarked on a campaign todonate backpacks filled with school supplies, and more recently tosponsor students at St. Rose with $100 each for tuition, uniformsand hot lunches for the school year.