YOU SAID IT
“People are going to want to get rid of their pennies and they’re not going to want to roll them. We’ll roll them for them and offer them a discount just for bringing them in to us”
SUMMERSIDE — While the federal government sees little use for the penny, Habitat for Humanity Restore in Summerside says it’s worth its weight in copper.
Restore manager, Jennifer Egan, said the Summerside facility is on a penny drive to try and raise funds to build a house. She said the idea came to her when she saw in the newspaper that the government was no longer going to be minting pennies.
“People are going to want to get rid of their pennies and they’re not going to want to roll them,” Egan said. “We’ll roll them for them and offer them a discount just for bringing them in to us.”
Restore is offering a discount of one per cent for every pound of pennies a customer brings in. She said a pound of pennies is about $1.50.
“When you consider that you can bring in 10 pounds of pennies that will be a 10 per cent discount,” she said. “If you bring me 100 pounds of pennies you basically get to pick anything you want in the store for free. It’s a good bargain.”
One of the goals of Habitat for Humanity is to provide housing for low-income families and the penny drive is aimed at that project.
“We are going to try and build a house,” she said. “We’re hoping to get half a house which is about $50,000, so it’s five million pennies that we’re looking for. I know there are five million pennies out there in Summerside. Everybody has their jar of pennies, their can of pennies, their penny dish on their cupboard and in their cars. There’s always pennies lying around and we’d be happy to take them.”
Egan said the project is also an opportunity to get Habitat for Humanity’s message out to the public.
“It raises awareness too,” she said. “We are hoping to bring more people in and make them understand what we do here.”
Since the store relocated, Egan said the response has been phenomenal.
“Since the move in December, we’ve seen much higher traffic,” she said. “We’ve seen higher sales, better donations so we’re hoping to keep that trend going, especially during the summer. Now that we’ve got people opening their cottages and starting renovations, it’s time to get rid of the old and maybe get in some new. This is the place to do it.”
She is hoping to keep the penny drive going “until the end of the summer, August or until we get a house. I’ll keep it going until the government stops making pennies.”
Volunteers play a big part in the success of Habitat for Humanity.
“I’ve got a lot of volunteers that come in,” Egan said. “Students from Three Oaks, students from other schools in the area, they have no problem rolling pennies and I’ll get in there and roll them too.”