His Helping Hands has joined hands with tens of thousands of other children around the world who share the vision and dedication to empower communities through education in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The youth 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 San Saba; however, 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 values of philanthropy by collecting pennies for global peace.

The Pennies for Peace campaign is a program of the Central Asia Institute (CAI), founded by Greg Mortenson, author of the #1 New York Times best sellers, 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 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.

There are some great activities on the Pennies for Peace web site as well. You can check out the young adult version of Three Cups of Tea or the children’s version Listen to the Wind at the Rylander Memorial Library.

To take a load off, clean out your cup holder and donate your pennies to any of the Pennies for Peace buckets that will be placed around town between now and September.

A big thanks to City National Bank, Cherokee Grocery, Rylander Memorial Library, Everett‘s Furniture, Super S Foods, and Dairy Mart for allowing us to place our jars on their counters.