It’s the feeling of surprise and delight that hits when you unexpectedly find change in the cushions of the couch.
Members of the Blessing Grounds crew - and the staff of the Blessing Foundation – recently experienced those emotions, but more like they found change in the cushions of a lot of couches.
Each year in the fall, the Grounds crew shuts off the water for the winter to the Founder’s Garden fountain at 11th Street, and cleans out the coins people have tossed into the fountain during the year.
In the process of doing that task this year, the crew discovered change that had been removed from the fountain over nearly 20 years, stored in a cabinet in their work area - buckets and buckets full of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters - $260 in all.
After the unexpected discovery, the Grounds crew cleaned the coins of the erosion caused by being in the fountain. Then, when they could not find a bank that would count all the change, the crew members took their heavy haul to the coin sorter at the Hy-Vee on Harrison Street to deliver a more manageable donation to the Blessing Foundation.
The Foundation staff was shocked. In her 18 years as Administrative Director, Ann Awerkamp Dickson had never received a deposit of coins from the fountain, so she did not know to expect it.
But Ann and her team knew exactly where the surprise donation belonged.
“The money went to the Employee Crisis Fund,” said Ann. “It would seem to me that families and friends tossed those coins into the fountain thinking of a loved one in the hospital and of the staff caring for them.”
“Since the Foundation is dedicated to investing 100 percent of each donation to the cause identified by the donor, it seemed natural to put this collective donation into the Employee Crisis Fund to assist those experiencing a crisis, just as were the people who tossed the coins into the fountain over the years,” she added.
Ann thanks the Grounds crew members involved in this effort; Steven Bennett, Devin Buss, Jered Grant and Rob Traman.
She also now has her calendar marked to watch for the donation of coins from the fountain each fall.
For more information about the Blessing Foundation click here.