Ketchikan Scouts Strike Copper with Shipboard Penny Donation
What happens when thousands of pennies take one last voyage through Alaska?
In Ketchikan, they become campouts, service projects, leadership lessons and new opportunities for local Scouts.
After shipboard teams aboard Holland America Line and Princess Cruises ships collected, counted, rolled and moved nearly a thousand pounds of excess pennies, the two Carnival Corporation cruise lines donated $5,000 in coins to Scouting America Troop 4 and Troop 2004 during a community event in Ketchikan. The effort turned spare change from Alaska-bound ships into meaningful support for youth programs in one of the region’s most-visited cruise destinations.
The pennies came from departments like guest services, casino and finance, with shipboard teams, shoreside employees and local partners working together to collect and offload the pennies.
For the Scouts, the donation will help support scouting activities, service projects and future programs that give young people opportunities to build confidence, serve their community and create lasting memories.
Just how many pennies is 1,000 pounds?
- Roughly 180,000 pennies, give or take, based on the weight of a modern U.S. penny.
- Stack them on top of each other and you would have more than 900 feet of pennies, or nearly three Statues of Liberty from the ground to the tip of the torch.
- In weight, nearly 1,000 pounds of pennies is in the same neighborhood as a large grand piano or concert grand piano, depending on the model.
