The Penny Game

At the boys school, they are having a fundraiser which they call 'The Penny Game'. Each grade gets a jar, and they can put pennies into their jars. Whichever grade has the most pennies wins an ice cream party for the grade, and the school keeps the money, and makes a profit.

So we dutifully emptied the jar that we throw change into and counted out 200 pennies, bagged them and gave them to the boys to take to school.

But this is America, and in true American style it's possible for someone richer and more powerful than you to crush all your hard work, thereby destroying your hopes and dreams. And it's just the same in the penny game. You can add coins and bills of other denominations to the jars that belong to other grades - and these count against that grade. So someone sticking two dollar bills into our (first grade) jars cancels our two sets of 100 pennies. So, along with 100 pennies each, we packed the boys off with four dollar bills each - one each for second, third, fourth and fifth grades. And if they look like they are doing well, there are plenty more where they came from.