A Virginia teenager showed her estranged father the meaning of good “cents” and maturity. Avery Sanford hadn’t seen her dad in years when he dropped off his final child support payment last month — dumping 80,000 pennies on his ex-wife’s lawn, according to News 6 Richmond.
“I just turned 18. When I was in the middle of class, my dad came by. He had rented a trailer,” Sanford told the outlet. Her penny-hoarding dad “pulled up in front of the house and turned the trailer on so it dumped out all the pennies on the grass,” she recalled.
“And my mom came out and was like, ‘What are you dumping in my yard?’ She didn’t know who it was until he shouted, ‘It’s your final child support payment.” Instead of getting mad, the high school senior decided to set aside the copper delivery for charity, according to the report.
The family picked up every penny and plans to donate all $800 to Safe Harbor, a domestic abuse center. “It’s not just my mom he’s trying to embarrass, it’s also me and my sister and it’s upsetting that he didn’t consider that before he did that,” the teen told the station.
“Turning around and donating that money to moms and children in need, I feel like that really turns this situation into a positive. You can learn from it.” Her father told the station he acted out of 18 years of pent-up frustration and “the last thing he wanted to do” was push his daughter further away.
