How do you move 300 tons of anything during the holiday season in NYC, much less pennies?

The journey of the pennies from neighbors to students to schools - and finally to Rockefeller Center - is a beautifully choreographed and complex dance in logistics. The story began this past fall when half a million students ages 4-14 canvassed their neighborhoods for pennies. Students in participating schools rushed to fill as many 30 lb. canvas sacks as they could while collaborating with their parents, and building relationships with classmates and neighbors.

Every year, Common Cents orchestrates a fleet of drivers to pick up over 15,000 penny sacks from hundreds of schools across NYC’s 300 square miles. These drivers, entrusted with the philanthropic bounty of nearly half a million students, then bring the pennies to a secure location for sorting and counting. For 16 years, Common Cents has worked with logistical experts to master this “penny pick-up” challenge.

But in 2007, we faced a new and unique challenge. How do we bring the students’ 600,000 lbs of pennies into the busiest block in New York? During the busiest season?

Then to Rockefeller Center!

In one amazing 24 hour period, more than 15,000 penny sacks were grouped in 250 steel “cribs,” each weighing one ton. The one ton cribs were then loaded onto fourteen 40-foot flat bed trucks. Overnight, the trucks delivered the cribs to Rockefeller Center. A forklift evenly distributed the cribs around the perimeter of the empty Penny Harvest Field.

When the cribs, trucks and forklifts stopped, our volunteers took over. While most of us were asleep, 100 volunteers from city high schools and colleges unloaded each 30 lb penny sack from every crib. Sunrise greeted another set of 100 volunteers for the “Big Penny Pour,” who literally poured the pennies from each sack filling the field. Three hours later, the true beauty, magnitude, and accomplishments of NYC students were revealed for the first time.

Finally, the field was ready to great the 350,000 visitors who pass through Rockefeller Center daily, including our most important visitors, Penny Harvest students themselves!

How do you get 100 million pennies out of Rockefeller Center?

When the field closed, we used two specialized vacuum trucks to literally suction the pennies out of the field! The pennies were removed at a rate of $1,000 per minute and emptied into twenty-five 20-foot cargo boxes. Throughout the night, the cargo boxes were continually trucked off-site. Over the next few days, the pennies were emptied into giant fortified duffle bags (ballistic bags). Once bagged, the pennies finally go to the bank and the dollars they equal are placed in the very capable hands of children.