Seal Sitters is proud to announce that we are the recipients of a Penny Harvest grant from West Seattle’s Madison Middle School. On Friday afternoon, SS representatives attended an all-school assembly to receive a generous check from these philanthropic students. Penny Harvest is a program that was born 1991 by a NYC father whose 4-year old daughter asked why they couldn’t help a homeless man shivering on the street. That question was the catalyst for the father to start a drive collecting “throwaway” pennies.

Each year, students across the nation go door to door, asking friends, neighbors and businesses to contribute pennies to a fund to help solve community problems. The students form roundtable committees to identify issues, such as homelessness and the environment, and the entire school body votes on those which most concern them. The committee of students then researches non-profits who work to alleviate those problems, interviews representatives to determine how the Penny Grant funds would be used, and ultimately grants awards.

We are so honored to be one of the selected recipients and applaud Madison Middle School children for their concern about the environment and their passion to help marine mammals. The funds will help defray the costs of our dedicated phone hotline. Each time the hotline rings and a volunteer answers, Madison Middle School has helped a seal pup (or adult seal, sea lion, elephant seal or maybe even a whale) in need. A big flipper hug to the very cool kids of Madison!