He walked in the bank with a dolly rolling along with him. The sound from the coins made everyone look at him instantly.
Otha Anders, the coin master, was part of the Jackson school Board as a supervisor. Children who were suspended were sent to him, and they were quite fond of him.
Anders had a wife and kids, and they support him every step of the way, but his hobby was a bit questionable…
An activity that started as a fun task, grew into a hobby, a type of obsession.
Anders believes that every penny he finds is a sign of God telling him to be grateful. On the days he didn’t pray he would almost always find a penny. According to him, that was the way God was telling him to be grateful.
While most people make a wish on a penny, Anders, as a man of faith, said prayers on it.
“I became convinced that spotting a lost or dropped penny was an additional God-given incentive reminding me to always be thankful,” Anders told USA Today. “There have been days where I failed to pray and more often than not, a lost or dropped penny would show up to remind me.”
For 45 years he stacked them in five-gallon plastic water jugs. He guessed that he stacked hundreds of thousand of dollars, but he was going to discover soon.
They brought the gallons to the bank and the employees had a fun day experiencing something they’ve never done before. They cut out the pennies out of the water jugs using a hammer and an ax. After five hours of cutting and counting on the coin-counting machine they had a number.
The total amount of pennies Anders had saved over 45 years was $5,136.14! That’s about 114.4$ per year. Who would’ve thought collecting pennies as a hobby could get an “old car” in 45 years?!
However, Anders spent his money to settle a dental bill he just received.
He was happy to spend the money on something useful. With the leftover funds he sponsored a family trip and donations to the church.
