Nyc Students Honored For A Year Of Service By Common Cents At The 4th Annual Run For Change

NEW YORK - June 13, 2014 - PRLog -- NEW YORK, June 13, 2014 – Common Cents, creators of the Penny Harvest, a 23 year old educational organization in over 600 schools and specializing in social-emotional learning through youth philanthropy, celebrated the “Power of Schools Doing Good” at the 4th annual “Penny Harvest Run for a Change!” This city-wide event took place on Saturday, June 7th along a three mile stretch of the Hudson River Park and concluded with refreshments and fun at PS 234 The Independence School. Teachers, parents and students across the city gathered to celebrate the outstanding accomplishments in donating over $215,430 to local community agencies of their choice and through hands-on service projects.

At the Run for Change, students graduating from their elementary and middle schools were honored by City Council Member Helen Rosenthal, District 6 in a special “moving up” ceremony. Following the Run/Walk participants enjoyed the Schools of Excellence Showcase and interactive iThinkOutsideMyBox art installation created by New York native David Everitt Carlson.

“This year’s Run for Change was the best by far!” several of the participants stated. After the Run/Walk students from participating schools mingled and enjoyed sharing stories of their yearlong journey improving their communities. Veteran volunteer known as JJ, who has supported Common Cents over 10 years said, “I’ll be back next year!”

Empowering students to become change makers, the Penny Harvest connects classroom instruction to real-world issues. Penny Harvest schools, led by a volunteer educator, are provided resources and tools to empower students to become civic leaders in their school and community. The results, neighborhoods are enriched with grants and community service, all raised, awarded, and performed by students. Schools are enhanced by an empowering ethos of civic responsibility. Most importantly, participating students are inspired to develop their academic ambitions by experiencing morally valued accomplishment within the school setting.

About Common Cents and the Penny Harvest

Common Cents creates innovative school-based programs that foster student engagement through service-learning. For the past 23 years Penny Harvest students have collected over $10 million in pennies, volunteered over 29 million service hours, and awarded over 16,000 community grants to help New York City neighborhoods and organizations. The Penny Harvest currently reaches over 1,000 schools nationwide in New York, Los Angeles, Ohio and Colorado. To learn more about how you can be involved and support Common Cents, creators of the Penny Harvest, please visit http://www.theRunforChange.org.

For photos of the event, please see our gallery: http://celebration.commoncents.org/Event2014/media.aspx