Local School Participates in International Pennies for Peace Campaign

Popular cultural education program tied to New York Times best seller, Three Cups of Tea

Landmark Academy at Reunion, Commerce City, CO January 28th, 2010

The students at Landmark Academy have joined hands with tens of thousands of other school children around the world who share the vision and dedication to empower communities through education in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Landmark Academy students are embarking on a Pennies for Peace campaign to broaden their cultural horizons and become members of a global family dedicated to peace.



How can a penny bring peace? It doesn’t buy much in Commerce City. But in the villages of Pakistan and Afghanistan, it can buy a pencil, start an education, and transform a life. In a region where terrorist organizations recruit uneducated, illiterate children, that pencil can empower a child to read, write, and learn. The Pennies for Peace program goal is to encourage children, who are ultimately our future leaders, to learn the value of philanthropy by collecting pennies for global peace.

Landmark Academy students will have an opportunity to study the cultures of Afghanistan and Pakistan, learn to work and share together in their Pennies for Peace campaign, and come to understand their own capacity as philanthropists – one penny at a time.

Landmark seventh graders in Ms. Patrick’s English class will begin promoting the Pennies for Peace campaign on January 27th, 2010. The campaign will officially kick off on Monday, February 1st, 2010.

The pennies that Landmark students collect can add up to make a real difference.

1 penny = a pencil
2-3 pennies = an eraser
15 pennies = one notebook
$20 = one child’s school supplies for one year
$50 = one treadle sewing machine and supplies
$100 = maternal healthcare supplies for one year
$300 = one advanced student’s annual scholarship
$600 = one teacher’s salary for one year
$5,000 = support for an existing school for one year
$50,000 = one school building and support for up to five years

Children in over 400 mountain villages in remote northern Pakistan and Afghanistan are on the waiting list, hoping to learn in a new school. Landmark students hope to help build a bridge of peace, one penny at a time, offering alternatives to the cycle of terrorism and war.

About Pennies for Peace
The Pennies for Peace campaign is a program of Central Asia Institute (CAI), founded by Greg Mortenson, author of the #1 New York Times best seller, Three Cups of Tea. CAI is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that promotes and provides community-based education and literacy programs, especially for girls, in Central Asia. Founded in 1996, CAI has built, to date, nearly 100 schools 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

To find out more about Landmark’s Pennies for Peace campaign, please contact:

Alicia Patrick, 7th grade teacher
Landmark Academy
10566 Memphis Street
Commerce City, CO 80022
303-287-2901
75.apatrick@nationalheritageacademies.com