Throughout February 2009, the New Jersey State Library plans to honor the legacy of Abraham Lincoln as part of the national Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commemoration.
Lincoln firmly believed in education, equality, opportunity and peace. To help continue his legacy, the State Library is encouraging all New Jersey libraries to participate in the Lincoln Pennies for Peace Campaign. All funds collected will be donated to Pennies for Peace which collects funds for the Central Asia Institute co-founded by Greg Mortenson, the subject of the bestselling biography, “Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace… One School At A Time.” The money will be used to build school libraries in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“During February we will be sponsoring a Pennies for Peace contest for all public and school libraries to encourage them to join with us in this drive to offer children in another part of the world the opportunity to read,” said Norma Blake, New Jersey State Librarian.
The New Jersey State Library encourages New Jersey libraries to join this campaign:
• Register at Pennies for Peace They will send you free postcards and stickers. And will even provide certificates for all your participants.
• Let us know too. Email Tina Keresztury: tkeresztury@njstatelib.org.
• Design a creative donation container and send in pictures for posting on the State Library Website. Either post the photos to your Flickr account and send Gary Cooper the link or send us the digital photos and he’ll post them for you. (gcooper@njstatelib.org)
• Get children and the community involved in contributing pennies. Pennies for Peace has lots of suggestions to get you started.
The libraries collecting the most pennies for New Jersey libraries will receive recognition during National Library Week in April 2009.
To be eligible for this contest, libraries should collect the pennies, make a check made out to “New Jersey State Library” and send the check to the State Library by April 1. We’ll send all the checks to Pennies for Peace.
Send your check to:
Shere Shafer, Chief Financial Officer
NJ State Library
PO Box 520
Trenton, NJ 08625-0520
Checks must be received at the State Library by April 1, 2009.
The original Pennies for Peace was conceived by students in a Wisconsin elementary school in 1996. Since then, over 16 million pennies have been raised by over 700 schools in all 50 states, including over 10 million pennies in the past year. The program is designed to educate children about the world beyond their experience and show them that they can make a positive impact on a global scale, one penny at a time. To date, the Central Asia Institute has established 61 schools, educating over 25,000 students.
Media Inquiries: Gary Cooper email: gcooper@njstatelib.org
Contact for Libraries: Tina Keresztury email: tkeresztury@njstatelib.org.
A Pennies for Peace newsletter will be added shortly to the NJ State Library Marketing News blog .
LINKS:
Ideas and Resources for Teachers
Curriculum Ideas
Registration Form
Lincoln BiCentennial Web site
Lincoln Pennies for Peace Campaign 