Sometimes even a jaded old social worker like me is capable of having her heart warmed. From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Street sweeper donates $1,000 in loose pennies, bills to charity

BROOK PARK, Ohio – A city street sweeper collected $1,002 in loose change and bills that he found on the job and gave it all to the Salvation Army.

Ron Hall has found all sort of things – purses, wallets, even a cordless drill – in 27 years as a street sweeper in this Cleveland suburb. He returned all the items that he could and quietly ferreted away any loose change he picked up.

“I’m a guy who takes the adage ‘Find a penny, pick it up’ to the nth degree,” Hall, 57, said. “I’ll jump out of that sweeper in a heartbeat for a quarter.”

But over the years, Hall said it was difficult getting rid of the change because some banks limit the amount of coins they will accept. So when he heard that the Salvation Army was struggling to find places for its bell-ringers and might fall short of its $650,000 fundraising goal this holiday season, he knew how he could help.

Hall and friends got together to place the loose change into coin roll wrappers. They ended up with $530 in pennies, $276 in larger coins and $196 in loose bills.

Phil Mason, the Salvation Army’s director of development in the Cleveland area, said he could not recall another example of someone donating such large quantities of coins.

Hall “has really motivated me to do something with my own change,” Mason said.