Making a Wish? Your Coins Help the Community

Have you ever thrown a couple of coins into the fountain at Reston Town Center?

Whether your wish came true is personal business, but the coins you left behind are turned back into an investment into the community.

Several times a year, Reston Town Center scoops up the coins and delivers them to Reston Association. Volunteers clean the coins and count them, and then  turn them over to Reston's Character Counts! Coalition.

"Last year, Town Center ended up donating $2,000 to us," says Cate Fulkerson, RA's director of member services and head of the Character Counts! Coalition.

Character Counts! is sponsored by the nonprofit Josephson Institute Center for Youth Ethics.

The group's main project is South Lakes High School's annual Ethics Day. South Lakes seniors  hold an all-day seminar at the Sheraton Reston, where they are presented with four different ethical scenarios and discuss how they would solve the issue.

Some of the main points of character education: trust, responsibility, caring, respect, fairness and citizenship.

Since 1999, all students in Fairfax County grades K-6 have some form of charcter education. Character Counts! also sponsors a poster contest for Reston children and programs at Forest Edge Elementary and Armstrong Elementary.