Ancient Chinese wisdom holds that a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.
Ask some of the kids at River Forest’s Lincoln, Willard and Roosevelt schools about small steps, and they’ll tell you that raising the thousands of dollars needed to build a school in Pakistan starts with a single penny.
To most Americans, pennies are a worthless annoyance, carried around and ignored until tossed into a bowl or lost under car seats or couch cushions. For people in other parts of the world, however, the cumulative power of pennies – even a single penny- can change lives.
All those little copper Lincolns can be turned into crisp paper Benjamins, as Greg Mortenson of Colorade discovered a decade and a half ago. In 1994, Mortenson founded Pennies for Peace, a grassroots fundraising effort that continues to spread and inspire schoolkids across the U.S. who are looking to help children nearly half a world away.
Mortenson’s story, detailed in his book Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace … One School at a Time, captured Willard mother Susan Lucci.
“The guy’s a genius,” she said, referring to Mortenson’s concept that every little bit helps, that everyone – no matter how young – can be a part of something bigger than themselves, that you have power if you’re willing to put in the effort.
At Willard School, Lucci’s Kindly Wizards service group held their first Pennies for Peace fundraiser during the 2007-08 school year. This year, Lucci’s friend Maureen McCann launched a Pennies for Peace project at Lincoln School through the Heartworks service club.
A big plastic water bottle in the Lincoln entrance hall filled up quickly. “It just took off when we told our kids about it,” McCann said. “Before we knew it, we had to buy more jars because it was overflowing.”
Students were out hitting up parents dropping off their kids. “All these parents and grandparents who come to drop off their kids are like, ‘Yeah, sure,'” McCann said. “Kids will tell us, ‘My mom has a lot of pennies in her car.'”
At Willard, collection takes place over the first week of every school month, weather permitting. “They have their little jars, shaking them at drivers,” Lucci said.
Lincoln’s Heartworks group sent letters home to parents, with a baggie. There’s been a smattering of singles and $5 bills – one child donated a quarter collection. But mostly it’s pennies.
“Kids really want to get involved and make a difference,” Lucci said. “It’s just amazing, the power of these kids.” She said the students have even come up with a slogan: Bringing about peace, one school at a time.
So far, the three schools in River Forest have raised nearly $1,400.
Lincoln’s Heartworks’ first count in late October was $454. Last week, Willard’s Kindly Wizards sent in a check for $446.79. Roosevelt Middle School is having a contest among its four grades, which, for the moment, the sixth graders appear to be running away with. Of the $484.26 collected three weeks into their contest, the sixth grade has collected over half – $287.34.
“We collect every Tuesday during lunch,” said language arts teacher Kathryn Locigno, who supervises the sixth grade’s collection. People can also drop by Locigno’s class room with donations.
The first of four such contests will end before the holiday recess. There’ll be three more two month contests before the school year ends.
Here in River Forest, members of Heartworks and the Kindly Wizards want to know what their efforts produced, whether a 75th school is closer to reality because of them.
They’ll ask, Mrs. Lucci: “Did we build a school?”
The answer will ultimately by yes – one penny at a time.
The spirit of Pennies for Peace is evident in another, spontaneous collection effort conducted by Lucci and McCann and students at Willard and Lincoln schools.
A few months ago, Roosevelt mother Pam Mulshine heard from her old friend Evan Johnson, who is now serving in the Army in Afghanistan.
Johnson, who joined the Army after graduating from Harvard, has made the welfare of some of the Afghan children he’s met his special project. He asked Mulshine for help.
“These kids have nothing,” Johnson told Mulshine. “Can you send me something for them?”
Mulshine contacted her friend Lucci, and the two women went to work. Again, it became a learning experience for their children. “We decided to team up with Lincoln Heartworks in this project as well, to really show the kids the power of community,” Lucci said.
When the collection results proved to be a bit slim, two of the Kindly Wizards asked their fathers to help out with the effort. One of the dads, whose firm has gone through a downsizing recently, brought in four boxes of desk supplies. The other, who owns a printing business, brought in boxes of drawing paper.
“Before you knew it, we had tables of supplies,” Lucci said. Last week, 44 Kindly Wizards and four moms and Willard’s Suzanne McLeese spent 25 minutes packing 26 boxes over the lunch period in the school auditorium.
“They loved it,” said a delighted Lucci, who added, “I spent two and a half hours filling out customs forms.” For her part, Mulshine generously agreed to pay the $308 shipping bill for the 26 boxes.
Not wanting to forget Johnson and his buddies, Lucci and McCann sent along Halloween candy and body wash for the soldiers. The kids also made cards thanking the soldiers and introducing themselves.
“They are eagerly anticipating a reply,” Lucci said.