This past spring the Nelson Gyro Club asked area residents to clean out their penny jars. The goal was to let people get rid of the soon-to-be-obsolete Canadian one-cent coins and hand them over to a good cause: Nelson’s Friends of the Family. Over the month-long campaign, thousands of pounds of coin was collected. The Gyro Club members then spent many hours rolling up the pennies and other change. The result was $1,800 raised for the local charity that helps families with kids who run into serious medical conditions. Last month Friends of the Family president Pat Dooley (middle) accepted the cheque from Gyro Club member Eli Tetrault (left) and local Gyro Club president John Wass.