Pennies for Peace

The Student Council of The Bodine School voted to begin a collection of pennies in February 2010. A kick off assembly was presented by Student council introducing the Pennies for Peace campaign. Pennies collected will help build schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Each elementary class read the book Listen to the Wind by Greg Mortenson explaining how this campaign began. The Middle School students were encouraged to bring in 1 penny for each American soldier who has been killed in the war on terrorism during the last 2 years, 687pennies each.




Each class had a gallon jug for their collection of pennies. When they had filled their jug with one quart of pennies, each class member could add a brick to the school house poster provided by Ms. Wakefield, the art teacher . Other coins were collected too.



The school collected over $700 to donate to the cause. Student Council members counted money to estimate how much we had collected. Middle School Student Council members took the pennies to the Paragon Bank to be counted by their coin counting machine. A check was mailed to the Central Asia Institute, Pennies for Peace.



Children in over 400 mountain villages in remote northern Pakistan and Afghanistan are on the waiting list, hoping to learn in a new school. The Bodine School students are helping build a bridge of peace, one penny at a time, offering alternatives to the cycle of terrorism and war. For more information visit penniesforpeace.org .