Dad’s 80,000 Penny Child Support Dump: The Response Is Priceless

RICHMOND, VA — Each penny Avery Sanford’s dad dumped on her lawn was packed with domestic drama.

There were 80,000 of them, adding up to $800, by the time the man pulled away in a landscaping trailer that he'd emptied on the lawn. Sanford, a high school senior in Richmond, Virginia, had just turned 18, and her father was making his final child support payment.

They haven’t spoken for years. And after what happened, Sanford doesn't have any interest in striking up a relationship now.

Still, the aggression behind his decision to pay his child support with 80,000 pennies stung.

“It’s not just my mom he’s trying to embarrass,” Sanford told news station WTVR, which first reported the story. “It’s also my sister and me, and it’s pretty upsetting that he didn’t consider that before he did that.

"It's really hurtful and damaging to your kids when you do things like that,” she said. “It doesn't matter if they're young or an adult; the actions of your parents will always have some effect on you.”

Some might call what he did emotional abuse.

And that’s what makes Sanford and her mother’s response so perfect.

They hatched a plan as they gathered 80,000 cents worth of bitterness.

They’re donating the $800 to Safe Harbor, a shelter in Richmond that helps survivors of sexual and domestic violence and human trafficking get their lives back.

“Turning around and donating that money to moms and children in need, I feel like that really turns this situation into a positive,” Sanford said. “You can learn from it.”

Sanford’s father told a WTVR reporter later that he had acted out of 18 yeares of pent-up frustration and emotion , and that he hadn’t intended to deepen the divide with his daughter.