Last month, Manhattan Prep created a Penny War Challenge in order to raise money for UNICEF, an organization dedicated to child survival and well being. Staff members and instructors were divided into departmental teams, assigned corresponding team jars and provided the following rules: 1) Pennies count for +1 point, 2) All silver coins and dollars count as negative points based on their face value (example: $1 = -100pts), and 3) The team with the most points wins!

The competition jumped off to a frenzied start with teams strategically putting loose silver change in rival department’s jars. The activity heightened as employees began to bring in their saved pennies from home, slowly growing their team totals. After four weeks of displaying tallied team totals to help spur the competition, we entered the final countdown! Kim Moy, a member of the winning HR/Tech department team exclaimed, It was coming down to the wire with departments neck and neck. The underdogs darted to the finish line, while we battled it out on the penny field! It was a close call, but we all came out winners in the name of charity.

Thanks in part to both our dedicated employees as well as our company’s matching gift program, we raised a grand total of $616.74! Oh, what a difference a little friendly competition can make!