Bryant Montessori School students on the school’s Peace Committee are focusing their efforts on a service project called Pennies for Peace to build a school in the remote regions of Pakistan or Afghanistan. They are partnering with Pierce County Reads to bring in even more pennies than Bryant alone could gather to fund the new school. The campaign began on Jan. 5 and runs through March 27.
Following their work on the dedication of Bryant as an International Peace Site in November 2008, the Peace Committee members reviewed all the service project proposals submitted by students. The committee voted unanimously to implement a Pennies for Peace campaign.
Shortly after the Peace Committee’s decision was made, Pierce County Reads announced its first book for 2009 would be “Three Cups of Tea,” a Greg Mortenson book about his efforts to raise money to build a school in Korphe, Pakistan. Since Mortenson’s efforts were the inspiration behind Pennies for Peace, the students saw this as an opportunity to expand the campaign across Pierce County to see how many pennies Bryant and Pierce County could raise together. It takes $16,000, or 1,600,000 pennies, to build a single school.
The Bryant Peace Committee is working with Pierce County Reads to promote having all of Pierce County read “Three Cups of Tea,” and the Pierce County Reads will likewise be encouraging participating groups to join in the Pennies for Peace Campaign.
Community partners for this project include Pierce County libraries, Columbia Bank, the Tacoma School District and the Tacoma City Council. The goal of the Bryant Peace Committee is to recruit as many Pierce County businesses, city offices, churches and schools as possible to conduct a Pennies for Peace Campaign so that together people can build a more peaceful world by building schools.
Contact Kevin Glackin-Coley at 253.312.9392 and keving@foodconnection.org or Kim Ebert at 253.572.9548 and kimebert@nventure.com for more information and to request posters and collection jars for your workplace, school or organization.