to be annoyed by school's 'silver coins only' charity contribution?

[magaddict]

My DD came home from school on Friday with a money boz she had made and instructions to fill it with 'silver coins ONLY' for their charity week. I am happy to contribute for the charity but think that this is a bit OTT really - surely any donation is worthwhile and a box full of any change can amount to quite a bit if everyone did it. All the children want to take full boxes back to school (they have about two weeks before they are due in) and i feel like the 'rules' around donation are a little dictatorial. AIBU?

box! not boz, obviously!

No YANBU - that's crazy! Smacks of beggars being choosers.

I would just fill it with whatever coins you want to/have available and send it back.

Stick in it whatever lose change you have.

School ABU here.

I suspect someone can't be bothered to count all the small change but YANBU.
It will discourage many from using the box at all I suspect and will put pressure on other families to fill it with silver when they can't afford to.
I would be tempted to ignore it and still put in coppers. You could always get a few change bags and count it for them and put it in the box again!

stick in whatever you have, they wont return it if tehre are coppers.

FILL it with copper and a fiver. Then send it back. The cheeky buggers.

Sounds like laziness more than anything, they don't want to count all the 1ps and 2ps! I'd stick in whatever you have anyway, it all counts.

That's what I thought - the letter said 'please ask grnadparents, neighbours etc to contribute..' but I feel bad about saying 'no coppers!' to people..and feel it takes away the message of giving to charity...We had to send in 500g margarine tubs for them to make into the money boxes and I reckon you could get around £10 worth of change in them if you only used pennies. Feel like going into school and complaining about their rules but don't want DD to be embarrassed by militant mum, even though all the other mothers were complaining about it!

Yanbu

Probably to save time counting it all. Teachers and school office staff have better things to do than spend hours sorting and counting. And before you say get the kids to do it, we tried a few years ago. As I taught Years 1 & 2 (oldest in school) some spent hours just sorting the coins, before we got to count it, and then the numbers got too big for many of the groups. What with that, the excitement of being out of uniform and having to do a couple of activities I didn't really get any actual teaching done that day!

5p , 10p, 20p , 50p isn't really big bucks . Does it matter that much ?

Someone should donate this to the school then (they do come cheaper, quickest link

I dont think it teaches the value of money to not accept coppers

Maybe it's a cackhanded way of saying they don't expect £1 or £2 coins?

is it really worth complaining that you want to put 1's and 2's in a box?

They don't have to count it - they could just take it to a bank and tell them it's for charity - most banks will do it with the machine FOC.

Yanbu. They can be counted in the coinstar machines at the supermarket.

If I got a letter like this, I would just send in some of the the silver coins in my purse. They certainly wouldn't fill the box.

If coppers were welcomed, I'd send in my full coppers jar (just a jam jar at home) which usually amounts to £4.50 - £5.00 worth.

Deffo Yanbu.

Infact, our school did ask everyone to bring in spare coins for Comic Relief last week and no mention was made of silver or copper, so I'm certain a few children were able to contribute when they wouldn't have been able to if only silver was acceptable.

And, (on a roll now) yes, you could say teachers have better things to do than count thousands of coppers (but see my coinstar comment above), we all have "better things to do" than devote time to charity. That's the point, though, isn't it? We give up a little of our time to benefit others.

Hardly an inclusive idea for those who are from
Poorer backgrounds. I would be having a discreet word.

Next thing to know they will be counting them in front of children and getting a prize for child who collected the most whilst the poor children feel like shit.

OMG, I can't believe anyone can still think that coppers are an appropriate donation for anything! Even if theres lots of them - 50 2ps is still only a pound you know!

I would feel seriously tight if I put coppers in anything, and I'm not wealthy!

Quite, oadcb.

I don't see how a couple of cooper coins opposed to a silver coin excludes poorer families .4 p difference at the least .

And surely it still teaches children the worth of money e.g that a box full of coins doesn't necessarily mean a lot of money , while a less empty box could be more . I remember swapping silver coins for a handful of copper as a small child , thinking the larger amount meant a bigger sum .

But extending if a child whose parents are really skint just needs to make their collection box rattle then coppers may be the only thing available.

There is still real poverty in the uk and those who are suffering don't have an Internet connection to voice it.

DDs school did a fantastic collection after the earthquake in Haiti.

They sponsor a little girl from Haiti, so were really interested and concerned by events.

They asked the primary school aged children to bring in as many coppers as possible, and then arranged them on the hall floor as a map of Haiti.

The children were fascinated by it all.

I worked in a school where there was a prize for the most raised in sponsorship for the annual sponsored walk. I never did like that headmaster.

Meant to add that I would let my child collect any coins that people were willing to donate, but then replace them with the equivalent value in silver before returning it to the school - if only to save the staff from having to count it all.

I've been in the position of counting thousands of pounds worth of small change for charity - it is dirty, frustrating work.