Common Cents, an educational non-profit organization, sponsors the annual Penny Harvest, which is the largest child philanthropy program in the United States. This year, more than half a million NYC school children participated, contributing over 600,000 pounds of pennies. For the first time, this enormous effort of philanthropy was displayed in December at Rockefeller Center, in the walkway leading to the ice-skating rink.

At Rockefeller Center, 20 Dalton high school students – many of whom were members of our football team – provided the bulk of the volunteer work force. During the course of a very long evening, they hoisted more than 600,00 pounds of pennies from 11 flatbed trucks. Common Cents Executive Director Teddy Gross said that this part of the effort could not have been accomplished without Dalton’s participation; he praised the students’ efforts commenting, “Dalton builds character and compassion in students like no other school!”

In the morning, a large group of First Program students (with their families) continued emptying the remaining bags, and then spread the pennies to create a luminous, coppery field (this "field" will be featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest penny display ever)!

Many thanks to Dalton students, teachers, administrators, and parents for making this year's Penny Harvest such a tremendous success. To conclude this community service project, First Program students will gather to discuss which organizations they want their “helping” pennies to support.