MEEKER I Gather those pennies from those cup holders, ashtrays, junk drawers, sofa cushions, or wherever they’re collecting for a good cause. Between April 11-22, pennies collected at 13 participating local businesses in Meeker will be matched by Mountain Valley Bank (MVB) — up to 100,000 pennies — and donations made to HopeWest and the Meeker Education Foundation.
The penny drive, in its second year, is part of the bank’s Red Letter Day celebration on April 26, which will include an all-day Open House. Since 2015, MVB has celebrated the anniversary of its renovated building being listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The building was originally constructed by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.), a fraternal organization with history dating back to the 1600s.
“The Odd Fellows started as a way to care for their members in a time when there were no systems in place to ensure one’s welfare, health or job protection. Back in the early days, insurance companies and government programs that provided sick and death benefits did not actually exist. Sickness or death of a breadwinner frequently meant poverty and the responsibility of burial depended on the family. During the 19th century, life insurance was available only to the wealthy and beyond the financial ability of the average working class. For these reasons the Independent Order of Odd Fellows took on the responsibilities of visiting the sick, burying the dead, educating the orphans and caring for the widows as a way to support widows, orphans and families in need.” (from The History and Manual of Odd Fellowship)
The missions of HopeWest and the Meeker Education Foundation fit well with that Odd Fellows charter, says MVB President Tawny Halandras.
Last year people not only brought their penny collections to the bank (they need to go to the participating businesses). In a surprise move last year, people wanted to exchange bills for rolls of pennies, and the bank ran out of pennies. Halandras said this year they’re prepared in case that happens again. “We’ve been saving pennies.”
Pennies are being collected at the following 13 randomly selected businesses: McGuire Auto Parts, Meeker General Mercantile, Gofer Foods, White River Convenience, Wendll’s, Smoking River Brewing Co., Grant Family Dentistry, the Meeker Sweet Shop, Nana Goose, Mtn. Made Trading Co., Chippers, NAPA Auto Parts and Watt’s Ranch Market.
Halandras said she hopes the penny drive will get people into local businesses. The business that collects the most pennies will win a cheese board from Blanco Cellars and The Little Cheese Shop.
Look for penny collection containers on Monday, April 11, giving everyone a few days to collect all those stray coins.
Speaking of pennies, here are some things you may not know about the humble coin:
• Pennies are NOT made of copper. The modern one-cent coin is actually composed mainly of zinc with a copper coating.
• Abraham Lincoln was the first historical figure to be on a U.S. coin. He was first portrayed on the penny in 1909, to commemorate his 100th birthday. The Lincoln penny was also the first U.S. cent to include the words “In God We Trust.”
• A penny costs 1.82 cents to manufacture. Between production costs and shipping, the one-cent coin cost $0.0182 each. This comes to $69 million in losses compared to their total value.
• When spinning a penny, the chances of landing on tails is 80%. Spinning a coin is often believed to be a 50-50 proposition. However, when it comes to the penny, the side with Lincoln’s head is a bit heavier than the flip side. The coin’s center of mass ends up lying more toward heads. Moreover, flipping a coin is not 50-50, but 51-49, biased towards the side that was initially facing up.
• In 1987, an 18-year-old freshman raised $28,000 by collecting a penny from 2.8 million people. Mike Hayes, a student at the University of Illinois, came up with an idea to raise the money he needed for college tuition. He contacted a newspaper columnist at the Chicago Tribune and asked him to write his readers a simple request: send a penny. They sent 90,000 letters and about 2.9 million pennies which more than covered his tuition.
• The oddly familiar smell that comes from pennies (and other coins) is actually a human body odor. The smell is produced when human sweat reacts with the metal and creates that metallic smell.
n The first design for the penny had the inscription “Mind Your Business”. The coin was designed by Benjamin Franklin and only minted in 1787. It was replaced by the one-cent piece with the motto “E pluribus unum”, Latin for “Out of many, one”.
• On average, the penny can only circulate for about 25 years. After that time, they become too worn to be used. However, consider that the average dollar only lasts for only 18 months, so pennies have quite the lifespan comparatively.
• In 1992 Australia removed their one (and two) cent coins from circulation. Inflation and the high cost of bronze reduced their value. After removal, the coins were melted down and used to make the bronze medals for the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics.
• 16 pennies stacked equals 1 inch and 16 pennies in a line equals 1 foot. Depending on the age of the pennies, your mileage may vary as wear and tear could affect the thickness.
• Pennies extended cash transactions by about two seconds. A joint study with National Association of Convenience Stores and Walgreens showed that handling pennies added the extra time. The same study showed that the average consumer made 23 cash transactions in a single month. That comes out to an hour or two per year dealing with pennies.
• There are more one-cent coins produced than any other denomination. The US Mint ships more pennies for circulation than all other coins combined. In 2017, 8.4 billions pennies were shipped, the next closest coin was the dime with 2.4 billion.
• Two-thirds of the pennies produced in the US in the last 30 years have dropped out of circulation. According to Philip Diehl, the former director of the US Mint, the majority of pennies wind up in penny jars, sock drawers, banks, or the trash.
• There is a penny lobby that works in opposition to the elimination of the penny from American currency circulation. The lobby is called Americans for Common Cents and was established in 1990. It is a consortium of 50 groups that represent the zinc industry, which supplies most of the metal used in pennies.
• The official name for a penny is not penny. A ‘One Cent Piece’ or ‘Cent’ is the official U.S. name for the penny. The misnomer comes from the early equating of the denomination with the British Penny which had similar value.
Source: https://15facts.com/facts-about-the-penny/
By NIKI TURNER – editor@editorht1885.com
