Monroe students on Pennies for Peace campaign

By: centraljersey.com
MONROE – The students at Brookside School at 370 Buckelew Ave. have joined hands with tens of thousands of other school children around the world who share the vision and dedication to empower communities through education in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Brookside School students are embarking on a Pennies for Peace campaign to broaden their cultural horizons and become members of a global family dedicated to peace.
How can a penny bring peace? It doesn’t buy much in Monroe Township.
But in the villages of Pakistan and Afghanistan, it 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 children, who are ultimately our future leaders, to learn the value of philanthropy by collecting pennies for global peace.
The students will have an opportunity to study the cultures of Afghanistan and Pakistan, learn to work and share together in their Peace for Peace campaign and come to understand their own capacity as philanthropists – one penny at a time.
At Brookside, the students are donating a dollar to put their handprint on a wall dedicated to Pennies for Peace, which consists of a painting of a globe and handprints all around it.
The pennies Brookside School’s students collect can add up to make a real difference.
One penny equals a pencil; two to three, eraser; 15, one notebook; $20, one child’s school supplies for one year; $50, one treadle sewing machine and supplies; $100, maternal health-care supplies for one year; $300, one advanced student’s annual scholarship; $600, one teacher’s annual salary; $5,000, support for existing school for one year; and $50,000, one school building and support for up to five years.
Children in more than 400 mountain villages in remote northern Pakistan and Afghanistan are on the waiting list, hoping to learn in a new school.
Brookside students hope to help build a bridge of peace, one penny at a time, offering alternatives to the cycle of terrorism and war.
The Pennies for Peace campaign is a program of Central Asia Institute, founded by Greg Mortenson, author of the No. 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, 14,000 of whom are girls.
Mr. Mortenson’s story and more information about CAI can be found at www.ikat.org.