Pennies for Peace

Canton Free Library has joined hands with libraries across New York State in an effort to empower communities through education in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan by embarking on a Pennies for Peace campaign.
How can a penny bring peace? It doesn’t buy much in our world. But in the villages of Pakistan and Afghanistan, it can buy a pencil, start an education, help put a book in a child’s hands and transform a life. That pencil can empower uneducated, illiterate children to read, write, and learn. The Pennies for Peace program goal is to encourage our children, who are our future leaders, to learn the value of philanthropy by collecting pennies for global peace.
Large plastic jars, decorated by library teen groups, will be in place at the Patron Services desks in CFL’s Main Reading Room, in the YA Zone, and in the Ann L. Richardson Children’s Room throughout the month of March. Pennies for Peace collection jars will also be in place at the Morley Library and the Rensselaer Falls Library. We invite local businesses to join us in our efforts to bring books and the chance to learn to read to children in over 400 mountain villages in remote northern Pakistan and Afghanistan. The hope is to help build a bridge of peace, one penny at a time, offering alternatives to the cycle of terrorism and war.
The pennies that Canton Free Library collects can make a real difference.
1 penny = a pencil
2 to 3 pennies = an eraser
15 pennies = one notebook
$20 = one child’s school supplies for one year, including books

About Pennies for Peace
The Pennies for Peace campaign is a program of Central Asia Institute (CAI), founded by Greg Mortenson, author of New York Times bestsellers, Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools. CAI is a registered 501(c)3 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. Greg’s story and more information about CAI can be found on the web at www.ikat.org.