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Our Lady of the Elms students collect spare change to build school for girls in Pakistan
By Jewell Cardwell
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Thursday, Oct 01, 2009
They stood shivering in the cold, passing clear-plastic bags of money to Brink's truck drivers.
Rest assured, they were warmed by the knowledge of what they had done and continue to do to make a difference in the world.
It didn't matter that the recipients of their generosity are strangers, come from a different culture and live in another part of the world.
All that mattered to the Our Lady of the Elms school family this day is that those girls have the same opportunity to be educated as they enjoy.
That's what has motivated all 374 pre-kindergarten through high-school students to save their coins — and some folding money — since May: to build a school for girls in Pakistan.
On Wednesday, the Elms girls happily turned over their stash to Brink's, which dropped off the money at FirstMerit for a final count.
The project — ongoing through November — comes under the umbrella of the private, all-girl school's Peace Plus program, an organization founded in 1958 whose mission is to promote peace, justice and care of the Earth through information and awareness.
Nancy S. McGrath, Elms alumna and Peace Plus chairwoman, said the initial plan ''was to raise $50,000. For that amount we can build a school and provide teaching staff and supplies for three to five years.''
In light of the downshift in the economy, however, Elms set a more
realistic goal of $25,000.
That just means the Akron school will be partnering with another school or organization to build the school.
The Elms school family already had raised $13,000 prior to the Brink's truck collection. The bank will tabulate the new collection later this week.
The impetus to build the school is part of a far larger campaign started by Greg Mortenson, who among other things authored Three Cups of Tea.
Mortenson has been nominated for the Nobel Prize for his efforts to build peace through building schools, especially for girls.
''When you educate a boy, you educate an individual. When you educate a girl, you educate a community,'' Mortenson has said.
''In 1993, Greg Mortenson drifted into an impoverished Pakistani village in the Karakoram mountains after a failed attempt to climb K2,'' McGrath recounted.
''Moved by the inhabitants' kindness, he promised to return and build a school. Three Cups of Tea is the story of that promise and its extraordinary outcome.
''To date, Mortenson [through his Central Asian Institute] has built 78 schools; 60 in Pakistan and 18 in Afghanistan. In the remote areas where he builds, literacy for girls runs from zero to 37 percent.''
Elms senior Lillian Brown said she was overjoyed to be part of the school-building project.
''In this country, sometimes we take for granted just how very important getting a good education is,'' Lillian said. ''By just saving pennies we can make that happen for other girls.''
Sophomore Kyla Korvne agreed, adding, ''We're both girls schools. Women getting an education is very rare in that area.''
The impact of saving pennies for the cause wasn't lost on the little ones either.
Leighanna Robinson, 4, said, ''I saved my money for the prayer service because we read some stuff about this.''
Likewise, 6-year-old first-grader Serena Parmar said that by building a school in Pakistan ''the girls won't have to walk a really long mile and they'll be able to read.''
Elms Elementary Principal Marie Reichart said the project ''gave the students the opportunity to have a small part in something greater than themselves and a chance all summer long to think of others.''
Interested in helping Elms' Peace Plus achieve its goal even faster? Make checks out to: OLE Peace Plus, 1931 Stockbridge Road, Akron, OH 44313.
Jewell Cardwell can be reached at 330-996-3567 or jcardwell@thebeaconjournal.com.
They stood shivering in the cold, passing clear-plastic bags of money to Brink's truck drivers.
Get the full article here.
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