Home : African Services Receives a Generous Penny Harvest from P.S. 161 and P.S. 48
African Services Receives a Generous Penny Harvest from P.S. 161 and P.S. 48
This spring, African Services was the proud recipient of Penny Harvest
grants totaling $2,900 from P.S.161 the Don Pedro Alibizu Campos School
in Harlem and P.S.48 the Joseph R. Drake School in the Bronx. According
to a teacher at P.S.161, “They collected pennies to help make our world
a better place.” But after rounding up 290,000 idle pennies, students
began studying the issues that affect their communities and those who
are working to make a difference. Both schools selected African
Services from among hundreds of others organizations. In a prospective
grantee meeting, students sought answers to some of their most basic
questions, asking, “When someone first comes from Africa, where do they
sleep?” They also sought to better understand the impact of the global
AIDS crisis at home and abroad. The Penny Harvest model of giving
enables schoolchildren to convert their natural compassion into action.
By collecting pennies and turning them into grants for community
organizations, they take on real world issues and get an education in
critical-thinking and problem solving. We are grateful to Penny Harvest
for cultivating the next generation of activists and philanthropists
and to the students of P.S.161 and P.S.48 for supporting the African
community in its fight against HIV in New York City and beyond.
