How often have you thrown a penny or pennies away? Or refused to bend over to pick up a penny you dropped? You may regret those decisions after hearing about 73-year-old Otha Anders, who collected pennies for 45 years. He refused to ever spend a penny and would pick up stray pennies whenever he saw one. Finally, he decided it was time to cash them in because he could use the money. After the bank cashed them in Anders was shocked by the amount of money he had in 15 water bottles he kept in his house.
Since all the way back in the early 1970’s, 73-year-old Otha Anders has collected every single penny that he encountered. Whether it was dropped on the ground, handed to him by a cashier, found abandoned by a panhandling beggar or otherwise, not a single penny escaped his clutches for years on end. And this project became an obsession for Otha Anders – and now he’s the one laughing.
After 45 years of collecting, Anders had a total of 15 water jugs filled to the brim with pennies. With the help of his friends and family, he was able to wheel the jugs into his local Ruston, Louisiana bank to finally cash in all that change, a huge relief after all these years.
When asked to describe the reason he started collecting, Anders is not shy about giving a direct answer. It all started with one single penny found face-up on the ground and it eventually led to his life’s work.
“I became convinced that spotting a lost or dropped penny was an additional God-given incentive reminding me to always be thankful,” Anders told Fox News. “There have been days where I failed to pray and more often than not, a lost or dropped penny would show up to remind me.”
Essentially, every penny Anders found on the ground was a sign of good luck from God. He wasn’t shy about his faith in the Lord and recognized the blessing – even if it only came in the form of a penny.