FREEPORT — A new nonprofit that converts spare change into social change is hoping to set a world record for coins collected for charity.
The final collection for the first ChangeFest will be from noon until 6 p.m. Saturday at L.L. Bean, where six 55-gallon collection barrels will be situated for attendees to donate loose change to a cause of their choice: housing, food security, education, financial literacy, children’s play, and health and wellness.
The Freeport event will feature live music, children’s activities, performances by Circus Maine and food vendors. Admission is free.
A satellite event will be held at the L.L. Bean store in Bangor from noon to 2 p.m., with change collected transported to Freeport in an L.L. Bean Bootmobile.
All of the change collected will be distributed by a new organization, World of Change, to its partner organizations.
The world record currently stands at $180,000 raised for charity in coins, set in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1998, according to World of Change, which has raised thousands of dollars from schools, camps, and community organizations since the event launched in March.
Since September, change has been collected in each of Falmouth Elementary School’s 45 classrooms; by Chebeague Island School’s 25 pre-K through fifth-grade students, and at Waynflete School in Portland, led by junior Georgia Goodman of Cumberland.
According to World of Change’s website, an estimated $10 billion in loose change sits idly in American households – an average of $90 per household not being put to use. Founder and Director Matt Hoidal of Falmouth said World of Change is committed to putting that collective capacity to good use.
“The spirit of ChangeFest is to show that good things can happen when people come together with a common purpose to make change, literally,” Hoidal said in a news release. “Attendees not only will be bringing change to ChangeFest, but also making change that day.”
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