Latest News

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Bring your pennies -- the need keeps growing

Donate generously to fundraiser

By: Kevin Rollason

Posted: 11/17/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Kevin Rollason with his wings at the Sage Creek RBC event. Connel McGavock, 2.5 years old, donates his pennies. November 16, 2012 BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

Enlarge Image

ABOVE: Kevin Rollason with his wings at the Sage Creek RBC event. Also present were Kai Madsen (left of Rollason), David Northcott (red sweater) and Jared Funk, who won silver at the Paralympics in wheelchair rugby. RIGHT: Kevin Rollason with Connel McGavock, two, who happily donated his pennies. (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

Well, the federal government said it would do it and it has done it.

The penny, the backbone of our annual Pennies from Heaven campaign, is toast. The final pennies were minted in April and their distribution will stop in February.

Unfortunately, our local hungry, whom our campaign helps through the Christmas Cheer Board and Winnipeg Harvest, continue to grow in numbers.

That's why we need your help.

We know there are still millions of pennies out there. We just need you to look for those pennies and donate them our way.

We need the children, teens and adults in our community to know that, on its own, a penny is not worth much. But put them together with thousands of others and they can help the Cheer Board's Kai Madsen and his army of volunteers buy a Christmas dinner for a family. They can help give what may be a child's only toy this Christmas. They can offer hope for the hungry.

We also still need people to dig deep and look for other denominations of coins, folding money and cheques. We know the students in the Louis Riel School Division are onside in a big way: Their own pennies campaign annually raises about one-quarter of our total donations.

A recent study showed food bank use here went up 14.2 per cent this year from last. Many of those people and others will need the help of the Cheer Board during the festive season.

But, as has been said many times before, because hunger doesn't take a holiday, Winnipeg Harvest needs help, too. Currently, Harvest feeds almost 65,000 Manitobans per month.

As I told Harvest head David Northcott a few years ago -- and he has used the comparison since -- hunger is this province's second-largest community.

Pennies is officially an adult now. It was 18 campaigns ago that former editor Mike Ward realized donations to the Christmas Cheer Board were down, so he asked people to bring in their pennies. They did and an annual fundraising campaign was born. In later years, we began helping Harvest as well.

To start things off right, on Friday we had our Pennies launch at the Sage Creek branch of the RBC, one of our Pennies partners. We had Jared Funk, holding his three Paralympic medals in wheelchair rugby -- the most recent from the London Games -- helping our cause through the RBC's Olympian program. We had Bruce Gehlen, RBC's regional vice-president for Greater Winnipeg, speaking on why the RBC is thrilled to be part of the Pennies campaign once again.

And we also had a kid -- a very cute and wide-eyed two-year-old Connel McGavock -- he brought a big container full of pennies and poured them in. He had so much fun the first time that luckily another person came in with a bag full of pennies -- so he was able to do it again a couple more times.

I -- along with the rest of my angel team, daughters Sarah and Mary -- hope you want to have that fun, too. We'll have even more fun during our annual draw, which we'll tell you about soon.

But for now, please donate generously.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Where to donate

THERE are giant collection bins inside all of our city's Walmart stores. Look for the bin featuring a winged me with my two daughters.

All RBC branches in the city have our collection bins.

Our giant penny is once again on the second floor of Portage Place facing Edmonton Court.

There is a bin at the Winnipeg Free Press at 1355 Mountain Ave.

Cheques can be sent to Pennies from Heaven, c/o Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6. Tax receipts will be issued.

-- Rollason

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 17, 2012 B4

Fact Check

Have you found an error, or know of something we’ve missed in one of our stories? Please use the form below and let us know.

* Required

In which story did you find the error? *
Please post the headline of the story or the title of the video with the error.
What was the error? *
Please post exactly what was wrong with the story.
What should we have written?
Please indicate your source for the correct information.
Who else should we interview to improve this story?
Please include any contact information you may have.
Can we contact you in the future for advice on stories about this topic?
Yes

No
First Name: *
Last Name: *
E–mail Address: *
This will only be used to contact you if we have a question about your submission, it will not be used to identify you or be published.
Phone: *
This will only be used to contact you if we have a question about your submission, it will not be used to identify you or be published.
Colour:
Are you blue? If you can see this, leave it blank and get some CSS support.
Enter the words that you see: * This is to prevent our forms from being filled out automatically.
You have failed to correctly identify the words in the box above. Please try again.

More Latest News

Undock

You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. You can also agree or disagree with other comments. All you need to do is register and/or login and you can join the conversation and give your feedback.

Have Your Say

New to commenting? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions.

The Winnipeg Free Press does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comment, you agree to our Terms and Conditions. These terms were revised effective April 16, 2010.