Family & Children's Services of the Waterloo Region (FACS) is calling on all worldly travellers in the region to donate their unspent international cash to benefit underprivileged children within the region.
Partnering with Global Currency Service on Gordon Street as a long-term donation location, FACS is calling on the Guelph community to dig out any past foreign currencies and relive the memories associated with it before donating it to a worthy cause.
A collection area will be set up at Global Currency Service.
Launching on March 21 in Waterloo and expanding throughout the region, Currency for Kids is an initiative to collect international currency which will then be repatriated to their countries of origin and we will receive the proceeds in Canadian currency.
“Even if it’s out of circulation currency, thinking like those Canadian pennies – there’s lots of those in circulation still, dollar bills, two dollar bills, deutsche mark,” said Crystal Raymond, event & community awareness coordinator with the FACS Foundation. “Anything - we take it.”
FACS was inspired to begin its currency for kids campaign after hearing of the resounding success the Durham Children’s Aid Foundation had with its currency for kids campaign.
“When Dennis from the Durham Children’s Aid Foundation brought it to the wider group of Children’s aid foundations in Ontario it just made sense,” said Raymond. “Because, in our fundraising, it's a different way of asking. It's helping people find a solution for things they know have value but don’t know where to put it.”
FACS is hoping travellers who have stashed away international currencies will use this fundraiser as a means to relive and share past experiences before donating the currencies that typically sit in drawers or as rarely looked at collectibles.
It is estimated that over $2 billion in global currency can currently be found in homes and businesses across Canada, and of this, it is estimated that in Ontario there is over $840 Million in foreign currency in Ontario alone.
Raymond said that when dissecting these amounts further, FACS can reasonably estimate the Waterloo Region population has $50 million in foreign global currencies in their homes.
“That’s based on what our population is multiplied by the range of currency in Canada,” “If you think about those numbers if we can get everyone to dig around in their drawers, dig around in that cup on their desk, next time they open up their suitcase to get ready because we’re all starting to travel again if we can get a percentage of that what an impact that would make on our wider community.”
