Penny Project

16,088,152

With each of these pennies we remember one person in Africa who is suffering from HIV/AIDS.

Please, join us in this effort to raise awareness of this epidemic while raising funds to fight this disease.

QUESTIONS?

Email us at
thepennyproject@fumcbirmingham.org

MEDIA

Penny Pages
Vol. 1, Issue 1
Vol. 1, Issue 2

Penny Pictures
RED RAVE 2007
World AIDS Day Dance
Other Pics

"Tethered Together"
mp3, lyrics

High Res Pics
Color, B&W

Events

MEGA CAR WASH!
May 10, 2008
Pledge Sheets
Flier
Photos
Signage

LEMONADE STAND REVOLUTION!
June 25, 2008
Flier
Photos
Signs

Africafest
in Shain Park
June 25, 2008
7pm

DONATE

Click below for information on becoming a partner in the Penny Project by making a donation. We accept copper, paper, and plastic pennies!

Mega Car Wash - May 10
We are going to offer a free car wash to the community from 1-4 Saturday, May 10 in our parking lot as well as at the Mobil Station at Oak and Woodward. Donations will be welcome of course, but the way we are going to make money on this is for you and your friends to collect pledges. If you and 9 friends from other than church can each find $200 in pledges then each of you (in our group) will bring in $2,000 which would be incredible! This is not required though so don't shy away if it feels too high. Come Sunday the 13th to Room 228 at 12 noon to pick up everything you and your friends will need to get pledges and get involved. It's going to be a great time! Then after the cars are all shiny, we will have a party for all those who helped from 4-6 pm featuring Mongolian BBQ - they are bringing the grills and everything. This will be a a really fun day and its a great way to get your friends involved!

Lemonade Stand Revolution - June 25
We are going to invite all the little kids/young families in our congregation to hold lemonade stands in their own neighborhood on the same day at the same time to benefit the Penny Project. So, all we need from you is help recruiting these families. Maybe there is someone in your neighborhood or someone you baby-sit for that would do this with us. Soon, we will have a packet for interested families to get more info and sign up. It's a fun way to get the young kids involved!

Africafest in Shain Park - June 25 7 pm
Come be part of this new tradition in the Concert in the Park series. There will be music and dancing and African food and merchandise and the Penny Project will have our own booth (and Lemonade Stand). Plan to join us -- bring some lawn chairs and the family -- the music will be incredible!

How it Started:

One Afternoon in June 2005 ...

Our high school leadership group gathered together to plan the schedule for this year. However, we started to go off topic and started to think of ways to make a difference not only in our community, but also in the world. We felt compelled to aid those with AIDS in Africa and we decided that this would be our focus for the coming school year. We thought about how to reach the community about the problem of HIV/AIDS in Africa. We decided to collect 23 million pennies ... representing 23 million people in Africa infected with HIV/AIDS at that time.

-Katherine Comeau and Emily Reynolds

What It Is:

Mission Statement:
Lead an interfaith effort to collect 23 million pennies representing approximately one penny for each person with AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa. These funds will sponsor 2 to 3 organizations in their effort to further AIDS education and at the same time, we will build community awareness of this problem.

The FUMC youth are changing the world one penny at time. This effort is called the Penny Project. The goal of the Penny Project is to collect one penny for every one of the 23 million people with HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Did You Know?

The African continent is 20% of the world’s total land mass.
There are 900 million people in Africa and that is 14% of the world’s population.
Over 2,000 languages are spoken on the continent.
There are 15 million refugees in Africa.
66% of the African population is dependent on agriculture for survival.
34.3 million people around the world are infected with HIV/AIDS and 23 million of those people live in Sub-Saharan Africa.
There are 12 million AIDS orphans in Africa. 15% of these children are 0-4 years old, 35% are 5-9 years old, and 50% are 10-14 years old.
70% of the people of Africa live on less than $2 a day.
50% live on less than $1 a day.
200 million people go hungry every day in Africa.
The average life expectancy in Sub-Saharan Africa is only 46 years old.

For more information, contact Heather McNutt (248-646-6407 ext. 3147 or hmcnutt@fumcbirmingham.org).

Birmingham First UMC