Monday, January 18th, is the National Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. In honor of the occasion, Pennies for Peace (P4P) is partnering with local businesses to encourage service to others, promote education, and celebrate the spirit of the holiday.
A program of Central Asia Institute, a local Montana-based nonprofit organization, P4P connects children and groups around the world with students in underserved communities in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan. All month long, Zocalo Coffee House (117 E Main St.) is donating 50 percent of proceeds from Snickerdoodle lattes to P4P and MaYarising (20 E Main St.) the stylish downtown Bozeman boutique, will donate one dollar for every fair trade product purchased. On January 17th, Lockhorn Cider House (21 S Wallace Ave.) is hosting “Pints for Peace.” Community members are encouraged to bring in a penny jar in exchange for a pint of cider throughout the month. Children can exchange their pennies for a non-alcoholic cider as well. The contents of each penny jar will be poured into a six-gallon glass carboy (a glass container used to ferment test batches of cider), and donated to the P4P program at the end of the month. The Lockhorn Cider House will match the community’s contributions up to $1000. The fundraiser will coincide with a photographic display by Central Asia Institute and Erik Petersen Photography (beginning January 4th). A reception, slideshow, and fundraising evening will be held at Lockhorn Cider House on January 17th from 7–9pm and is free to the public. Between January 18th and 25th, Red Tractor Pizza will be holding a coin collection. Stop by and drop off your spare change. More companies are expected to join in. All events will be posted on the P4P website at penniesforpeace.org/events/.
In addition to mobilizing the community, P4P is bringing its standard aligned curriculum for grades K-12 to Greater Gallatin United Way’s kidsLINK Afterschool program, teaching the 1,500 students in the program about Central Asian Culture and how they can make a difference with something as small and insignificant as a penny. The week of January 18th, Saddle Peak Elementary and Whittier Elementary after-school programs will have access to the P4P curriculum and toolkit, and collect pennies to donate. Activities cover themes such as the power of education, effects of extreme poverty, cultural understanding, geography, politics, humanitarian efforts, and global citizenship. The program encourages students to broaden their cultural horizons and come to understand their own capacities as humanitarians. On January 25th, Morning Star and Hyalite Elementary schools will participate in the Pennies for Peace program, as well. Pennies for Peace is a service-learning program that has been embraced by over 7,000 schools and groups since 1996. In that time, students and participants have collected over 700,000,000(!) pennies. Each penny equals educational materials and opportunities for children, especially girls, living in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan. Visit Penniesforpeace.org for more information. Central Asia Institute’s mission is to empower communities of Central Asia through literacy and education, especially for girls; to promote peace through education; and to convey the importance of these activities globally. Learn more at CentralAsiaInstitute.org. •
