Source: ABC 6 News Indiana

For the past fifteen years an Indianapolis godmother has been collecting pennies in an effort to save up for her goddaughter’s college tuition. How many pennies did this godmother collect? Five hundred thousand.

ABC6 News in Indiana reports:

In 1997, Faith Hammock, 40, began saving spare change in an effort she called Pennies From Heaven so that her goddaughter, Kyla Gilbert, could someday attend college. Hammock was born with a brain condition and is mentally disabled.

When Gilbert was just 3-years-old, Hammock began collecting rolls, baskets and fists full of pennies, and once she spread the word, more donations began pouring in.

“Faith even had us picking up pennies off the street. If we see pennies on the street, you got to pick them up,” said Hammock’s mother, Janice Mays.

The years of hard work and determination by her family have paid off for Gilbert, RTV6’s Chance Walser reported.

“All this hard work that they’ve put in to me, I had to put it into something else and show them that I’m a good student. They are investing in me and they are investing in something good,” Gilbert said.

On Sunday, Hammock presented Gilbert with a check for $5,000, the culmination of a nearly two-decade penny collection.

“She is about to go to college in the fall, and I’m going to be happy for her,” Hammock said.

As an honors high school graduate, Hammock will be attending Indiana University in the fall with hopes of one day becoming a nurse.

“She’s kept me going for years and years. I just don’t know what I would do without her. I’m so happy to have her. I wouldn’t want any other godmother,” Gilbert said.

Along with the pennies from heaven, Gilbert has earned other scholarships and said her entire college tuition is nearly paid in full.

Gilbert said she plans to use Hammock’s donation for room and board.

Five thousand dollars is a lot of money to save in bills, let alone pennies!  This sort of diligence is incredibly inspiring. I wonder if the godmother saved other change too and has about 10-grand for herself in dimes, nickels, and quarters! Seriously, what a heartwarming story. This girl is lucky to have a selfless godmother like that. I hope she does well in college.

Do you save change? Does this story make you want to start?

Alissa Henry is a freelance writer living in Columbus, OH. Follow her on Twitter @AlissaInPink

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Source:thetowntalk.com

After months of harassment, an Indianapolis mother says she had no choice but to send her gay 17-year-old son Darnell “Dynasty” Young to school with a stun gun to defend himself. Now Darnell is facing possible expulsion for discharging the weapon at school.

“I do not promote violence – not at all – but what is a parent to do when she has done everything that she felt she was supposed to do … at the school?” Chelisa Grimes told CNN. “I did feel like there was nothing else left for me to do, but protect my child.

“I think that the self-protection device is what’s making the news, but the big picture is that my child is not the only one who does not feel safe at our school.”

On April 16, Darnell says six students surrounded him at Arsenal Technical High school, calling him names and threatening to beat him up. He then pulled the stun gun from his backpack and raised it in the air which set off an electric charge and sent the group of bullies running. CNN points out that unlike a Taser, which fires barbs attached to long wires at a target, a stun gun has to be near or pressed against a person to shock them. No one was harmed in this incident, but according to the Indianapolis Star, school police officers arrested Darnell a short time after he pulled out the weapon and took him away in handcuffs.

“I got kicked out of school for me bringing the weapon to school, but I honestly don’t think that that was fair,” Darnell said. “I didn’t use it on nobody. … All I did was raise it up in the air and went back to my class.”

Though Darnell and his family say the school hasn’t done much to stop the harassment, Larry Yarrell, the Tech principal, said school staff had been trying to get the teen to “tone down” his accessories.

“If you wear female apparel, then kids are kids and they’re going to say whatever it is that they want to say,” Yarrell told The Star. “Because you want to be different and because you choose to wear female apparel, it may happen. In the idealistic society, it shouldn’t matter. People should be able to wear what they want to wear.”

For Darnell, the clothing taunts weren’t the worst of the bullying, it was rumors that suggested he was “doing nasty stuff” with teachers.

“I was at my wit’s end. I didn’t know what to do and I thought about suicide,” he said. “I hate saying that word because God blessed me with this life. I love life. I love my education. I would never … but this bullying got so bad that I thought about that.”

Last week the school district held an expulsion hearing for Darnell but a decision has yet to be announced.

Do you think Darnell should be expelled for bringing the stun gun to school?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Whoa! Can you say coincidence?

Identical twins, Charron and Chardee Hampton, 22,  now have yet another thing in common. They both gave birth to baby girls on the same day. The girls were born just two hours apart, across the hall from one another in St. Vincent’s Hospital in Indianapolis. Charron, who was past due, went to the hospital first to be induced and her sister followed later after she went into labor.

The sisters are excited that their daughters, both of whom were born face up and 21 inches long, will share the same birthday, just like their mothers. They’ve already begun planning their first birthday party.

Both sisters are also engaged and joked that they might even have their wedding on the same day.

Pretty cute, huh?

To see video of the two mothers click on the link in the Black Voices piece.