Youth of First Baptist Church in New London, N.H., gathered 60,000 pennies to represent each child in the state who suffers from hunger.

In New Hampshire, 60,000 children live at or below the poverty level. When the youth of First Baptist Church in New London, N.H., learned of this, they gathered 60,000 pennies to represent each child in the state who suffers from hunger. Kristina Harrold, a youth organizer of FBC's "Penny Project," explained: "Today, 20,227 children in New Hampshire will go to bed hungry. As youth, we asked ourselves what could we do that would affect the community in a positive way? We finally came up with the idea of collecting pennies."

FBC youth canvassed their community, collecting pennies from church members, schools and nearby neighborhoods. Within six months, they had amassed 60,000 pennies!

"We are planning to donate the money to local food pantries, homeless shelters and other organizations to help those in need," Harrold says. Before distributing the pennies, the youth, along with FBC's Youth and Education director Cindy Johnson, loaded the pennies onto three Flexible Flyer wagons and delivered them to the Statehouse in Concord where they met with Governor John Lynch and several state representatives to express their concerns. Not only did the "Penny Project" raise money, it also raised awareness about children living in poverty in the state.

Inspired by their success, FBC youth have decided to continue collecting pennies. Their new goal of 13 million pennies represents the number of children who suffer from hunger in this nation. FBC youth are also extending an invitation to American Baptist youth in churches throughout the denomination to join them.

"Although these pennies may not add up to many dollars, the wealth of education gained by our youth and our society is invaluable.  Jesus' words in Matthew 25:45, ‘Even unto the least of these,' have already been shared by our young people as they continue to bring onto our radar screen the need to address the growing issue of poverty in our state and in our nation," Johnson says.

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