Pennies build schools, promote peace

The sounds of many children singing reverberated throughout Collins Arena last week as students from local schools serenaded humanitarian Greg Mortenson.

Above: Ocean Township Elementary School students listen as Greg Mortenson addresses the crowd in Collins Arena at Brookdale Community College on Jan. 27. Right: The Nobel Peace Prize nominee greets students. Bottom: Third- and fourthgraders from the Ocean Township Elementary School Chorus hold a check symbolizing their $3,000 donation to Mortenson’s Pennies for Peace campaign, which raises funds to build schools for children in remote villages in Afghanistan and Pakistan. More photos at www.gmnews.com. PHOTOS BY JEFF GRANIT staff A celebrated author and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Mortenson was on hand Jan. 27 to receive an honorary degree from Brookdale Community College and to meet with students and members of the community to discuss his efforts to bring peace and education to remote villages in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

His presence also acknowledged the work of Brookdale’s Alumni Association and PTK Honor Society in raising $35,000 to support Mortenson’s mission to build public schools in the war-torn nations.

“Our honors society selected him two years ago,” Brookdale acting President Dr. Margaret McMenamin said at the event.

“The honors society PTK, Phi Theta Kappa, engages in a yearlong service project, and they wanted to do something that they thought would make a difference.

“One thing led to another, and it expanded beyond the honors society into the alumni association, and as you can see, it touched the hearts of so many local kids, elementary school kids, teachers, high school kids and intermediate school kids.”

Mortenson is co-founder and executive director of the Central Asia Institute (CAI), which was established in 1996.

His mission to bring education to the poor, remote villages of Afghanistan and Pakistan began when he was injured while climbing K2 in Baltistan, the second tallest mountain in the world, in 1993. While being nursed back to health by the village people of Korphe, Mortenson discovered that the children did not have any schooling, and he promised his caretakers he would repay their kindness by building schools.

As of 2009, Bozeman, Montanabased CAI had established 130 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan, providing education to more than 51,000 students, with an emphasis on girls’ education, the website states. A major reason for the success of the initiative is local involvement: the schools are built with local materials by local people.

Mortenson has traveled the globe promoting peace through education, which is the theme of his best-selling book, “Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace, One School at a Time,” co-authored with David Oliver Relin.

The book is required reading for all U.S. senior military commanders, Special Forces soldiers deploying in Afghanistan, and Pentagon officers specializing in counterinsurgency training. His second book, “Stones Into Schools: Promoting Peace With Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” was released in December.

Among the many school groups in attendance at the Brookdale event were students from the Red Bank Charter School and the Ocean Township Elementary School.

The Ocean Township Elementary School Chorus, led by music teacher Ann Hedinger, sang “Three Cups of Tea” to show their support for his cause.

“It was like a dream come true. I’m just so honored that they could perform for him,” Hedinger said last week.

“He’s really a great man. They’ve read about him in the library. He’s like a hero to them. And when I told them … that we were going to sing for Greg Mortenson, they screamed and they jumped up and down. They were so excited, because they just really love the song and they really know who he is and what he is trying to do.”

The students were at the event to do more than sing. Some five months ago, teachers and students in the Ocean Township School District began collecting donations for CAI’s Pennies for Peace (www.penniesforpeace.org), a program that educates American children about the world beyond them and how they can make a positive impact on the lives of children on a global scale, one penny at a time.

The effort, spearheaded by Township of Ocean Intermediate School social studies teacher Chris Fogler, raised $3,000, which the district donated to Mortenson’s program at the Jan. 27 event.

According to Fogler, the district-wide effort began last year when she attended a similar event in Princeton and decided to bring the program to Ocean Township.

“When I came back [to school] in September, I got big donation jars ready and I put out all kinds of emails to all of the parents, and put jars in the lobby, gave little jars to each of the social studies teachers, and made up lessons to give to the social studies teachers so they could teach the kids about [Pennies for Peace].

“Then I got my school chorus involved in it and one of the other schools because of the song “Three Cups of Tea,” Fogler explained. “So the chorus decided they were going to do it in their winter concert this year.”

The chorus’ performance raised awareness of the Pennies for Peace donation drive, and Fogler said it generated $3,000 that will help build schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

At the event, Mortenson encouraged the audience to think of those in the global communitywho are less fortunate and asked them to work to help improve their lives.

He also spoke directly to the children gathered at the event, hoping to instill an understanding of the importance of education and how it can dramatically improve the lives of children in those nations.

Mortenson later asked several children in the audience if they wanted children around the world to have the chance to receive an education. To which each child responded with an emphatic “yes.”

Despite having to leave the morning event for another appearance, Mortenson stayed to take photos, sign books and speak to some of the youngest and most impressionable members of the audience.

It was Mortenson’s story and dedication to peace that made him the ideal person to be honored, McMenamin told those in attendance at Collins Arena.

“When we had to make a decision about to whom do we give our honorary degree, which we take very seriously, there was a groundswell of support for Greg Mortenson because he embodies so much of what Brookdale is about,” Mc- Menamin said.

“It’s about education, it’s about providing access to education, it’s about giving opportunities for students, for everyone, to get an education,” McMenamin explained. “Not an exclusive school, but a school that says welcome to everyone. And that’s what Greg Mortenson advocates for and certainly promotes in his book in Afghanistan and Pakistan.”

For more information about Mortenson and the Pennies for Peace initiative, visit www.centralasiainstitute.com.