Whatever Happens To The Money People Toss Into Fountains?

June 8, 2016 in Daily Bulletin

Adam Chandler investigated the fate of coins that are thrown into fountains:

  • Usually money thrown into fountains in American parks are donated to the very charities that run the park – in effect the parks keep it for themselves.
  • There’s often very little change left for maintenance workers to collect however; entrepreneurial citizens frequently go into the fountain and collect the money before park staff can get at it.
  • The Mall of America has a private fountain and the approximately $24,000 it collects is used to fund a grant that charities apply to use.
  • And then there’s the Trevi Fountain in Rome. Due to a tradition that was popularized in the movie “Three Coins in the Fountain” thousands of dollars are thrown into the fountain by people around the world every day.
  • Some enterprising citizens used to try to collect the money through the use of a magnetizing wand. But the shift to Euro coins – which are immune to them – foiled this plan.
  • Italy uses money from the fountain to fund a supermarket for the poor.

Read more here.

Source: The Atlantic