Personality Greg Lawrence at last year’s Million Penny Challenge
A penny is the smallest unit in U.S. currency, but when groups of people gather together to collect pennies, the amount can be staggering. Now92one FM is again joining in the fight against cancer by sponsoring the Million Penny Challenge to benefit the 2014 Relay for Life.
Last year, the station raised a little over a quarter million pennies. General Manager Jim Murphy said that while the station didn’t raise a million pennies last year, it was a successful event and it helped with the planning for this year. “We started a little earlier, we partnered with Mile Bluff Medical Center, so I think we are giving ourselves as good as chance that we can. We may not make it, but we’ll learn and then we’ll try again harder next year.”
The goal is to raise a million pennies, but with some humor, Murphy said it would be cool to see what a “million of something” would look like. “That’s part of what’s driving me,” joked Murphy.
The challenge is different this year. Besides partnering with Mile Bluff Medical Center, the event is taking two weeks, instead of one week. The challenge will start on Monday, July 14th and will end before the Relay for Life Walk on Friday, July 25th. During these weeks, Now92one FM staff will be visiting local businesses remotely and the community is welcomed to come out and join them and more importantly, bring their pennies.
“It’s incremental, it’s to show people that every little bit adds up,” said Murphy. “The pennies in your ashtray, the pennies under your sofa, under the cushions, it all adds up.”
All the pennies will go to benefit the Relay for Life Juneau County. Last year, they raised almost $100,000. Nearly everyone has been affected by cancer in some way or form and this is one way to contributed to this cause to beat cancer.
Murphy said this goal of raising a million pennies takes a lot help and would like to thank all the listeners, the community and businesses that are participating in the event in advance. He would to thank Laridaen’s Glass for fabricating a huge container to hold the million pennies, Rudig Jensen Ford Chrysler Dodge Jeep for providing a vehicle capable of transporting the container full of a million pennies.
The results of the challenge will be announced at the end of the month.