Dad Dumps 80,000 Pennies in Child Support on Estranged Daughters Lawn - Her Response Is Absolute Gold

When a dad in Virginia decided to celebrate his final child support payment for his daughter by paying it in PENNIES and dumping all 80,000 of them on his ex-wife's front lawn, his daughter proved who really has the "cents" in the family.

Dad Dumps $800 Worth of Pennies in Daughter’s Yard in Cruel Stunt

According toNews 6 Richmond, the unnamed father "acted out of 18 years of pent-up frustration" when he rented a landscape trailer, filled it with pennies, and proceeded to dump them all over the yard of the home his daughter shares with her mother.

Perhaps he should have considered taking up yoga instead.

"I just turned 18. When I was in the middle of class, my dad came by. He had rented a trailer," Avery Sanford, a senior in high school, told the news station.

"He pulled up in front of the house and turned the trailer on so it dumped out all the pennies on the grass and my mom came out and was like, 'What are you dumping in my yard?' She didn't know who it was until he shouted, 'It's your final child support payment.'"

The whole bizarre incident was caught on the home's security camera.

Understandably, Avery was shocked and extremely hurt by her father's actions. Despite not having seen him in years, it still packed a painful punch. And not just for her, but for her sister as well.

“It is really hurtful and damaging to your kids when you do things like that,” her mother said. “And it doesn’t matter how old your kids are — it doesn’t matter if they’re a young child or an adult. The actions of your parents will always have some effect on you.”

And while he obviously thought he got the last laugh, he thought wrong.

How a Daughter Transformed a Painful Act Into Something Good

Turns out that in this case, the apple DOES fall far from the tree. Far far away.

Instead of letting the weight of the situation break her, Avery chose to turn one bad deed into a force for good. After picking up every last penny, she and her mother decided to pay it forward.

Together, they donated the money to Safe Harbor, a local domestic abuse center that supports survivors of human trafficking and sexual and domestic abuse.

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

But that wasn't the end. It was actually just the beginning. Their actions triggered a tidal wave of giving.

When people learned about her father's appalling behavior and Avery's response to it, donations to the center flooded in.

That $800? Turned into over $47,000.

"Our online donation page just blew up. And we've gotten over $47,000 worth of donations from locally, nationally, internationally -- as far as England and beyond," said Mary Maupai, Safe Harbor's development director.

Kindness Always Wins

It also seems that Avery's father may be feeling the full weight of his 80,000-penny decision. In a phone interview with WTVR, he shared that his "emotions got the best of him" and “the last thing he wanted to do” was push his daughter further away.

Unfortunately, that's exactly what he did.

The sad reality is that Avery is not the only child to get caught in the crossfire of her warring parents. When it comes to acrimonious divorces, there is almost always collateral damage.

But despite the emotional toll her father's actions took, Avery somehow managed to channel all of her hurt and anger into an amazing act of generosity.

Rather than fight fire with fire, she chose love. And in doing so, taught us all a powerful lesson in fighting anger with kindness. And kindness? Always wins.

More from Goalcast:

• Exhausted Dad of 4 Doesn’t Notice a Stranger Watching Him Closely at Work – Is Shocked When He Finds This Note on a Bill

• Boy With Autism Walks Into Restaurant to Pick Up a Menu – When He Doesn’t Come Back, His Dad Finds Out What’s Going On

• 8-Year-Old Driving With His Dad Insists on Pulling Over – His Next Move Is Being Praised by Strangers