A Virginia father made his final child support payment to his ex-wife last month by dumping a trailer filled with 80,000 pennies onto her front lawn, according to reports.
The coins amounted to $800, which the mother and her 18-year-old daughter, Avery Sanford, were forced to pick up by hand with help from several friends in the neighborhood.
They have since donated the money to a domestic abuse center in Richmond, eager to turn the act of spite into a good deed.
“They were able to turn such a negative experience, and what her daughter witnessed, into a positive,” said Cathy Easter, executive director of Safe Harbor, a Richmond organization that helps survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence and human trafficking, according to The Washington Post. “They found a way to turn this around and not feel devastated about it.”
The estranged couple has not been publicly identified.
The incident happened about 2:30 p.m. May 21 when the man pulled up to the house in an SUV with a trailer attached and began dumping the copper-coated coins. Home security video showed the pennies spilling onto the front lawn and the sidewalk before the man got back in the vehicle and drove away, the Post reported.
“My mom came out and was like, ‘What are you dumping in my yard?’ " said Sanford.
“It’s your last child support payment!” the man said.
An officer with the Henrico County Police Department responded to a “domestic-related incident” at the home in Glen Allen, about 14 miles north of Richmond, where he found the humongous pile of coins “in the roadway in front of the address.”
The incident was documented, but no charges were filed.
Sanford arrived home from school and said she was disappointed by the way her father handled the matter.
“It’s not just my mom he’s trying to embarrass, it’s also me and my sister,” Sanford told local station WTVR. “It’s upsetting that he didn’t consider that before he did that.”
Reached by WTVR, the father expressed frustration about the situation and said he didn’t intend to cause strain in the relationship with his daughter.
Since the incident, the shelter has reported a surge in donations, and Sanford has graduated from Deep Run High School. She plans to attend Virginia Tech in the fall.
“Turning around and donating that money to moms and children in need, I feel like that really turns this situation into a positive,” she said. “You can learn from it.”
The episode recalls a similar occurrence in March when a Fayetteville man, awaiting his final paycheck from his employer at an auto repair shop, arrived home to find 91,000 pennies dumped in his driveway.
Andreas Flaten said he quit his job at A OK Walker Luxury Autoworks in Peachtree City last November due to a toxic work environment.
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