Small Change Makes a Big Difference With Pennies For Peace, The Ark
September 17, 2003

Judith Wilson

Pennies for Peace made its debut on September 11, brining new meaning and hope to a day marked by national tragedy. The initiative is a program of Roots of Peace, nonprofit organization that is dedicated to removing landmines from countries devastated by war. It is special because American children are leaders, reaching out to children in Afghanistan by collecting pennies to pay for converting minefields in that country into usable land for schools and playing fields.

Del Mar Middle School had the honor of hosting the kick-off for the new campaign, which is a pilot project in Marin County this fall. “We hope through the Pennies for Peace initiative, we can make the world a better place for children,” said Del Mar principal Sandra Kuzma in opening remarks. She then introduced members of the Tiburon and Belvedere police departments and the Tiburon Fire Protection District, who let the pledge to the flag, which was flying at half-staff, to commemorate the events of September 11, 2001.

Pennies for Peace was the brainchild of 16-year-old Kyleigh Kühn, a Marin Catholic High School student, her mother Heidi, who is the founder of Roots of peace, and Cheryl Jennings, news anchor at ABC’s KGO TV, Channel 7, in San Francisco. All three women had visited minefields in the Balkans and seen the devastation firsthand, but they also knew that it was possible to demine land and make it productive again because Roots of Peace had been successful in clearing minefields and returning land to agricultural use.

The idea came together in July, when the two Kühns and Jennings met for a casual lunch that turned into a brainstorming session on how to help the innocent victims of war. The result was Pennies for Peace, and the three founders were all on hand on Thursday.

Jennings, who was introduced by Marin County Superintendent of Schools Mary Jane Burke, said that it was “awesome” to have Del Mar launch Pennies for Peace. “I hope it will spread to the whole country,” she said.

Heidi and Kyleigh Kühn thanked everyone on behalf of Roots of Peace, which Heidi described as “a children to children initiative to help other children around the world.” She said that kids in Marin have an important role to play in helping children in war-torn countries, and she encouraged Del mar students to “shake those pennies out of the pockets of Marin.”

Journalist Beth Ashley also took part in the ceremony to talk about visiting Afghanistan recently and walking through a minefield. After commenting on the “beautiful, day, beautify school, beautiful cause,” she shared her firsthand observations of Afghanistan with Del Mar’s students. She said that 95 percent of the schools have been “removed,” so opportunities for education are few. “I thank you on behalf of the children of Afghanistan,” she added. She also contributed as many pennies as she could find to help launch the campaign.

The Del Mar Singers closed out the program with a special rendition of John Lennon’s Imagine. Then is was on to business as students crowded around the tub on the stage to deposit the pennies they ad already collected. Ark staffers emptied their wallets and found a few pennies to kick in, too.

Sponsors of Pennies for Peace are ABC/KGO, the U.S. Department of State, Bank of Marin, Loomis Fargo & Co., Marin Independent Journal, Marin County Office of Education and A+ Report Card. The Bank of Marin donated 10,000 pennies to get the initiative off to a good start, and Loomis added 50,000. A+ Report Card provided the canisters that students are using to gather pennies.

Each Reed school has youth ambassadors who will give presentations at their own schools and at others in Marin. It is the hope of the Kühns and Jennings that every school in the county will participate. They emphasized that every cent of the money collected will go into a special account at the Bank of Marin and will be a gift for Afghanistan.

Heidi Kühn was grateful to the staff and parents at Del Mar for putting together the event in just a few days. She gave special credit to Denise Abbett, the PTA’s Site Chair at Del Mar and parent Nonie Greene saying that friends make things happen. The three were students together at Davidson Middle School in San Rafael and have celebrated their January birthdays together for 25 years. It was their friendship that put Del mar in the spotlight as the launching pad for Pennies for Peace.