Every Penny Counts
Students Learn to Give

by Ken Ludden for the San Francisco Spectrum

At Christmas time in 1987, Fred Skau started putting jars in the bars to collect pennies to help people with AIDS. We’ve all been told over and over that pennies make dollars, in fact, our teachers have told us that for years. And Fred Skau’s idea, which started in the bars, is now a lesson for school children of all ages throughout the entire Bay Area. The idea has stayed alive ever since.

Every Penny Counts Day (EPCD) is celebrated in schools everywhere. It is a day when children bring in their pennies, gather them together, and count them. It is exciting for the children, and educational. “I think one of the reasons that figure has stayed high is because of Every Penny Counts day which focuses on schools to raise money,” says Mike Smith, who works on the program at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF). “Since the mid ‘90s we’ve enlisted 40-50 schools throughout the Bay Area to do penny drives in their school.” Each year, schools get their jars along with promotional posters in October, so that by November 1 the schools can start a variety of creative ways to raise money.

Through the late 1980s and early 1990s SFAF had hundreds of volunteers deliver and collect the jars, taking them to Wells Fargo bank to deposit into an account that goes directly to client services for people with HIV/AIDS. “It was not unusual to make $100,000 to $200,000 per year,” says Smith. “It has been a remarkable steady flow even today when we bring in $150,000 - $200,000 in coins.”

Wells Fargo has been the primary, presenting sponsor for the past seven years. “For many years we’ve also had a company or corporate component as well where employees can bond together and put jars in their offices.” Other corporations have also joined the drive, with SBC and Lucas Films both conducting huge drives throughout the fall. This year EPCD has a new facet. Wells Fargo bank is getting much more involved. “For the first time this year members of the general public will be able to drop off their coins at any location in Wells Fargo, starting November 1,” Smith says. “That will run for the month of November, and we’ll be able to collect the pennies at Wells Fargo on December 1, and that is also World AIDS day.”

That day they will hold a Coin Collection Festival in Justin Herman Plaza at the Embarcadero in the big open area between the clock tower and the first buildings on Market Street. “This is great for kids from schools, but also for foot traffic of adults to drop their coins that day. It’s usually great fun for younger kids. It’s quite a site to see little first graders lined up with their bags to put their pennies into the little jar. It’s heart warming. There will be a tent and a fun house and some games. We’ll be waiting for schools to come drop off their money, or waiting for volunteers to come back from schools to add to our total.”

To run this effort takes many volunteers, and particularly those with cars. While many of the schools with younger children arrange field trips to the festival, the older age kids can’t get away from school and volunteers need to drive to the schools and collect the coins.

The subject of HIV/AIDS and its causes must be dealt with differently with different age groups. Because of this, SFAF leaves it up to the individual teachers how to build the program into their curriculum. “They need to decide to talk about the disease in terms of people just being sick,” says Smith, “or whether to talk about transmission and other aspects. Our focus has been on teaching compassion and philanthropy. We sometimes refer them to SFAF for information, for prevention materials.”

SFAF views Wells Fargo as “probably the best corporate citizen in the city for twenty years.” Wells Fargo clearly liked the concept and has been the primary corporate sponsor since the program moved from the bars to the schools in the early 1990s. It is integrated into their corporate culture.

“It’s very clear to a lot of us at SFAF that there are hundreds and hundreds of people in this city who regularly put their change in a penny jar,” says a grateful Smith. “We don’t know who they are so we don’t really have a way to say thank you. But we want them to know that their little acts of kindness have kept people some alive for 20 years.”

Perhaps even more grateful than Smith and the SFAF staff are the many clients the funds help directly. Richard Kroetsch, for example, is a 26-year survivor of AIDS. Doctors scratch their heads in wonder that Kroetsch is alive, and though he jokes about this, he also takes very good care of himself and is currently in training for next year’s AIDS Lifecycle Ride. A recipient of money from the coin drive, Kroetsch is a fixture at SFAF. “I’m a volunteer here also,” Kroetsch says, “but if I didn’t have the funds to help pay for my bills I would be probably out on the street. I believe I’ve been getting support from SFAF since 1998.”

His message to those who donate to EPCD is clear. “From me to them,” he says, “I appreciate every penny, everything that helps us. I appreciate it, I’m a very proud person and don’t like hand outs or asking for help, but this has been a God send. Now that I’m volunteering and see others and how this helps them, it really does help people who are stuck on GA or Social Security like me. I save my pennies in my piggy bank and I bring them in.”

When asked about the school children, he turns serious. “For the kids, I say play safe, always cover up, because you never know. And for the kids that are infected, I say cover up because you could get re-infected with a new strain and that’s even worse.”

To find out more about how you can help with Every Penny Counts Day, they can be found on the worldwide web at: http://www.aidsemergencyfund.org/pennyday.htm

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