Fall 2005, Volume 10 Number 3

Table of Contents

In April 2005, I founded a non-profit organization called Good Cents for Oakland, based in Oakland, CA.  Good Cents for Oakland’s Penny Roundup Program teaches school children that they can make a difference in Oakland through age-appropriate curriculum and penny drives known as Penny Roundups. 

Our program is not about the money children raise.  It’s about empowering children and teaching them that they can make change by being aware and informed about community issues and by being involved by talking to others and asking their help.

I decided to develop two programs for younger children, one focused on homelessness and one focused on hunger.   I believe it’s never too early to begin talking about the effects of poverty with children if the discussions are age-appropriate.  There are also few opportunities for parents with young children to participate in community service.    I wanted to give these parents an easy way to talk to their children about important issues.

Our Program teaches children why homes and food are important to us physically as well as emotionally.  Each week, the children participate in a “penny circle time”, create an art project, read books and sing songs all related to either homes or food.  The children learn that pennies can become “Good Cents” when they’re used to help others.  Throughout the program, children bring in their pennies and add them to the classroom jar.  Each penny collected provides an opportunity for parents to discuss the importance of homes and food for everyone.

The program begins with a week about helping.  The children listen to stories and watch puppet shows about helping.  The children then draw pictures to illustrate the story they heard or to show what they think helping means. 

The Hunger Program then turns to the importance of different types of food to our bodies.  We show the children the new Food Pyramid, but only to demonstrate that we need all types of food to be healthy.  We ask the children to name different types of grains, fruits, vegetables, meats, oils and nuts and show them these foods so they can see them for themselves.  We talk about how each food group helps our body and have the children create a healthy snack or “Stone Soup” together. 

Once the children understand how foods affect their bodies, we talk about food as part of our lives.  Food is almost always present on important occasions, family dinners, birthdays, celebrations of all kinds.  The children create a feast of their favorite foods (on paper) at circle time and read books about foods as part of celebrations. 

In weeks four through six, the children talk about what it might mean to be hungry.  What would happen to our bodies if we didn’t have grains, fruits and vegetables or protein?  The children learn about how the Food Bank helps others.  They then decorate small porcelain bowls we call Empty Bowls.  The children keep the Empty Bowl as a symbol of all the empty bowls in the community.  The children also create a “Neighborhood Letter” that they use to tell their neighbors that they are collecting pennies, or Good Cents, that will be donated to the Food Bank.  These letters explain why the children think it’s important to round up pennies.  The children also participate in a small canned food drive so that they can present food to the Food Bank in addition to their pennies.

Finally, the children place their pennies in bank bags, send them off to the bank to be counted and celebrate their success by presenting a ceremonial check to a Food Bank representative.  This year, one pre-k and one kindergarten class completed the Good Cents for Oakland Hunger Program, raising awareness about the issue of hunger with these children, their families and their neighbors as well as nearly $1,000 for the local Food Bank.  One Preschool has participated in our Homelessness Program for the last two years and has raised over $2,000 for a local shelter’s preschool serving homeless and at risk children.

I see the impact of both these Programs when I hear from parents who are amazed that their five year old recognized the Food Pyramid on a cereal box or announced that meat builds muscle and when their 3 ½ year old wants to send letters to the homeless children.  Are these children too young to teach about the importance of homes and food or that they can speak out and tell others about the problems Oakland faces?  I think the parents and teachers participating in our Penny Roundup Program would tell you that it’s not. 

Good Cents for Oakland provides its Penny Roundup to Oakland schools at no cost and donates 100% of the childrens’ Penny Roundups to community organizations helping Oakland.  We offer Preschool and Elementary School Penny Roundup Programs and will soon offer a Middle School Program.  Over 1,000 students will participate in the Penny Roundup Program next school year. Good Cents for Oakland is a tax-exempt, non-profit organization and relies upon individual donations, foundation and corporate grants to provide its programming.  For more information, please visit to www.GoodCentsforOakland.org.

                Dagmar Serota is Founder and Executive Director of Good Cents for Oakland. She can be reached at Damar@GoodCentsforOakland.org.

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