Pennies For Poverty Closes Its Doors

REGIONAL – A staunch group of determined volunteers who fought poverty here for 15 years under the banner of Pennies for Poverty: 2 Cents 4 Change has gone out of business.
The group raised money from individual donors, its Music for Change event, the annual Grocery Cart Challenge at the Yankee Homecoming Parade and from shoppers dropping thousands of dollars each year in spare change in its plastic jars near cash registers at many local businesses.
Pennies picked up those jars in about 30 businesses last week, but not because there is no longer a need in the region to fight poverty.
In fact, president Sue McKittrick said she believes poverty in our region may be worse today than when Katherine and Bob Gould started Pennies in 2008.
Nor is it because Pennies was struggling to raise money. Last year, it received its largest single donation ever of $50,000.
Pennies is closing its doors simply because other charities are doing well fighting poverty and educating the community about the need to fight poverty.
“Greater Newburyport now has a core group of hard-working and highly effective organizations that serve those struggling to get by. We urge donors and volunteers to redirect their support to local organizations that are having a significant impact on the well-being of neighbors,” the announcement said.
Pennies was founded by the Goulds on the principle that if everyone in the community does a little, they would have a large positive impact on the well-being of neighbors who are struggling.
The charities Pennies cited were the Boys and Girls Club of Lower Merrimack Valley, Community Action, Community Service of Newburyport, First Parish Newbury Food Pantry, Our Neighbors’ Table, Pettengill House and the YWCA of Greater Newburyport.
“These organizations have received the lion’s share of our grants in recent years and are staffed by seasoned professionals doing critical work in the community,” Pennies said.
During its 15 years, Pennies distributed more than $340,000 in grants to poverty fighting groups. It provided emergency assistance for families, collected food for food banks, worked to create affordable housing and provided scholarships for students who could not afford an education.
It also hosted hundreds of educational sessions and produced a guidebook of local charities to assist interested people in finding the right fit for them to volunteer.
When Cathie Gould was asked, “Why two cents? Why not a quarter or a dollar?” she explained that the name came from a play on words: Give your two cents worth.
Gould also believed it was an amount that was affordable, and it reinforced the belief that small acts done by many can create significant change.
The nonprofit organization, run by volunteers, collaborated with other groups to organize monthly presentations and discussions during the winter months to raise awareness about local poverty.
McKittrick said she wished that the organization could have done more to educate the community. It used social media posts and a newsletter to raise awareness about local poverty and amplify publicity about food drives, fundraisers and other events organized by local anti-poverty agencies.
Its free online service VolunteerMatch.org, listed local volunteer needs so people could find nearby volunteer opportunities. And it published a website, Resources.PenniesforPoverty.org.
Pennies was also careful not to initiate programs or events that could reduce funding or volunteering for the agencies who directly serve people in need. Now, true to its roots, Pennies is turning over the challenge of fighting poverty to others.