This year, the Bryant Student Council will be organizing another Penny Harvest for worthy causes.  The Penny Harvest is a nationwide educational program to engage children in civic education and service-learning.  From the Common Cents website, PennyHarvest.org,

“We at Common Cents regard America’s billion dollar resource of idle pennies –found in startling quantities in the homes of both the rich and poor–as the philanthropic property of young people,” according to Founder and Executive Director Teddy Gross. For this reason, every penny the children collect is theirs to give away in an educational group process.

Bryant Elementary is a participating school in Penny Harvest Seattle.

Over the course of four weeks this fall, students will be collecting pennies, pooling them in schools, turning the coins into dollars and allocating those dollars into grants to community groups that they have selected.

The Penny Harvest is divided into the following phases:

• Phase 1 (Fall): Gather pennies (and other donated coins)
  This year, pennies will be collected between October 26 - November 20, 2009.
  Every Bryant student is given a Penny Harvest bag with which to gather coins.
  Every Bryant classroom will have its own Penny Harvest box to collect all the coins brought in by the students.

For the fourth year in a row, Bryant Elementary will be participating in the nationwide program called Penny Harvest from October 26th through November 20th.  This is sponsored by Seattle’s local organization called Solid Ground, helping our community find food, housing and related services.

On Monday, October 26th, every student will come home with a paper bag and flyer.  Prior to this, we will go into classrooms and talk to the students about the purpose and procedures for Penny Harvest collection.  We will talk about the meaning of the word harvest; to gather or collect, and discuss what can go into these bags.   We will then explain that after collecting the money, older student council representatives will form a Penny Harvest Roundtable group, research the needs in the community to find out where to donate the money, and finally present a check to the organizations the students decide upon.