Pennies for Peanut Butter

Pennies for Peanut Butter is simple: Fill an empty peanut butter jar with all the pennies (and other spare change) that is lying around your house and car. Bring the filled jars to the Food Bank (or, for groups collecting more than 50 jars, we will pick them up) and we will do the rest.

But will all this change really add up? Yes! An 18 oz. jar holds approximately 800 pennies. With the Food Bank's buying power, we can purchase almost eight jars of peanut butter for every $8 donated!

What you will need: clean jars or containers for collecting change, labels for decorating empty jars (download labels here or make your own!), and creativity!

If you have questions or would like to have a speaker come out to kick-off your Pennies for Peanut Butter drive at your school, civic or faith-based group, or company, please call Ivy at 412-460-3663 ext. 217.

Pennies for Peanut Butter History

Born out of a training exercise with US Steel volunteers, Pennies for Peanut Butter offers a simple and fun way to get more protein-packed food out to the families in our region that are really struggling – especially important now as we watch the number of people who need help continue to rise dramatically.

We all want our children, regardless of their age, to help those around them. What better way to develop the minds of elementary, middle and high school students than to teach them the value of giving back to their community.

Through Pennies for Peanut Butter, students will learn that a small donation can go a long way. In Allegheny County alone, there are 261,000 school-aged children. If each child were to bring in $1 worth of pennies, it would provide the Food Bank with $261,000 in donations – almost 240,000 jars of peanut butter!

While this program is geared towards children, we also welcome corporations and civic and faith-based groups to join in!