He entered the bank with a dolly trailing behind him, loaded with jugs of coins. The sound of the coins immediately drew everyone’s attention.
Otha Anders, the man behind this scene, was known as the “coin master.” As a supervisor for the Jackson School Board, he was the person to whom suspended children were sent, and they grew to love him. Despite the support of his spouse and children, Anders had a peculiar hobby that some might find dubious.
What began as a fun project turned into a passion, almost an obsession. Anders believed that finding pennies was God’s way of teaching him gratitude. On days he didn’t pray, he often found a penny, which he saw as a divine reminder to express thanks.
Being a man of faith, Anders didn’t just wish on the pennies he found; he prayed over them. “I came to believe that finding a misplaced or dropped penny served as an extra divine prompt to always express gratitude,” Anders told USA Today. “There have been days when I have neglected to pray, and almost without fail, a misplaced or dropped penny has appeared to remind me.”
For forty-five years, he collected these pennies, storing them in five-gallon plastic water jugs. He estimated he had saved hundreds of thousands of dollars, but he was about to find out the exact amount.
The bank staff had an interesting day breaking open the jugs with axes and hammers to count the pennies. After five hours of chopping and counting, they finally had a total.
Anders had saved $5,136.14 in pennies over forty-five years, averaging about $114.40 annually. Who would have thought that collecting pennies could result in such a sum?
Anders used the money to pay off a recent dental bill, glad to spend it on something worthwhile. He also supported a family vacation and made donations to his church with the remaining funds.
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