Here in Baltimore, we have the great National Aquarium, the huge fishtank downtown that visitors enjoy. It costs a pretty penny to get in the place, but I guess if the people who run it start to run out of money, they can always a float a loan.
There is an aquarium down south - the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores - and although I assume there is an admission charge to get in there, they also have a large waterfall that many folks use as a wishing well, tossing in coins in hopes of finding true love, hitting the lottery, getting hired for a better job, you know the drill...
They've been closed for six months because of you-know-what, and someone came up with the idea to drain the waterfall and see how many quarters, halves, nickels, dimes and slugs were down at the bottom. Why not? With the national coin shortage and with no income coming in, it made sense.
They dredged up about 100 gallons of coins, and by the time they run all that metal through the coin counter down at the Food4Less, they'll have some operating loot to keep going a while. The money "...will go toward the general care of the aquarium and animals during this time," the aquarium said in a Facebook post last week.
Myself, I toss pocket change into a peanut butter jar and turn it in at the credit union to get money to buy more peanut butter, but I can't even dream up how much 100 gallons of jingly money comes out to.
They're taking guesses on their Facebook page, and meanwhile, while still closed to humans, the aquarium has virtual events, behind-the-scenes tours and animal encounters. All while keeping the facility up and running and taking care for the fishies and other inhabitants.
So, I hope they find it all adds to several million simoleons!
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