Pennies for Peace!

posted by Mrs. Torres on Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

We are delighted to share with you that our students will participate in a Pennies for Peace campaign for our Christian service project. Pennies for Peace is a service-learning program designed to broaden our students’ cultural horizons while teaching them about their capacities as philanthropists – one penny at a time.

Pennies for Peace is a program of Central Asia Institute (CAI), founded by Greg Mortenson – author of the #1 new York times best seller, Three Cups of Tea. CAI is a registered nonprofit organization that promotes and provides community-based education and literacy programs, especially for girls, in remote mountain regions of Central Asia. Founded in 1996, CAI has built, to date, nearly 100 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which serve more than 28,000 students – over 14,000 of whom are girls.

How can a penny bring peace? It doesn’t buy much in our community. However, in the villages of Pakistan and Afghanistan, a penny can buy a pencil, start an education, and transform a life. In a region where terrorist organizations recruit uneducated, illiterate children, that pencil can empower a child to read, write, and learn. The Pennies for Peace program goal is to encourage our students, who are ultimately our future leaders, to learn the value of philanthropy by collecting pennies for global peace.