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 Brooklyn, New York – At PS 335, an elementary school deep in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood, a group of fifteen young actors waited anxiously backstage. As part of PS 335’s “mid-harvest assembly” – an event to motivate the whole school to reach Penny Harvest’s 25 sack challenge – these young leaders were about to perform Elgin’s Jar, a play based on a storybook written by Common Cents executive director, Teddy Gross. Organized by PS 335’s Penny Harvest student leadership team named, “A Beautiful Spirit Philanthropy Roundtable,” and Penny Harvest Coach Cleo Jarvis, the assembly served to inspire the whole school to continue collecting pennies by telling the tale of Elgin, a young boy who saves a local playground from demolition by organizing a penny harvest and uniting his community. After weeks of hard work rehearsing, as well as designing and creating the set, the students were finally ready for the curtain to go up. Taking in deep breathes, one by one, the actors took the stage and brought the story to life. The audience watched with excitement and cheered when Elgin finally saved the day! “Watching you perform was an experience of pure joy,” Teddy told the students. “You all did such a terrific job with every aspect of the production. I was absolutely impressed, and can tell how much everyone here was inspired by the performance.” After the play concluded, student leaders got to work weighing all the pennies that had been collected so far. As class totals were announced, cheers could be heard from different sides of the auditorium. “Class 101…10.5 pounds!”
“Class 2102…19.1 pounds!” “Class 10108…56 pounds!” The students were also treated to a surprise appearance by Bob McGrath, the long-time star of PBS’s Sesame Street. “[The Penny Harvest] is great way to work together to help other people,” Bob told the star-struck audience, “and we need a lot more people like you to help solve problems. You guys are showing the rest of us the way!” “Remember, children,” Penny Harvest Coach Ms. Jarvis told the students, “every penny counts. Is any penny bad? No! Should we all be collecting pennies? Yes!” As students got up to return to class, they all sang a Penny Harvest song, with renewed energy to collect pennies and help their neighborhood. “If you want to reach somebody
If you want to help someone All you got to do is Penny Harvest!” PS 335 has been a Penny Harvest school since 2001. During the last seven years they have filled 122 penny sacks (that’s more than $6,000 in pennies!) and made nine Community Grants and organized three Neighborhood Service Projects to help others. For the past two years, PS 335 has been awarded the distinction of a Penny Harvest School of Excellence. To learn more about the Penny Harvest program at PS 335, click here. Elgin’s Jar was written by Teddy Gross in 2007. This production was the “world premiere” of the piece. |
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