Pennies For Peace Three Lake Spokane Elementary students and a middle school student manned a Pennies for Peace donation table at the middle school on March 12th.

After just two weeks, Lake Spokane Elementary’s PTN was pleased to present visiting author David Relin, Three Cups of Tea, with 28,000 pennies. Through sponsorship of the Stevens County Library (Brooke Golden, librarian) Mr. Relin gave a free slide show and presentation on Wednesday, March 12th, to a packed auditorium of multi-generations. “It was wonderful to have so many community members come to this event and experience this educational opportunity with our students,” stated Mrs. Linda St. Clair, Lakeside Middle School art teacher. Adding the pennies collected that night to the PTN’s, our school and community donated a total of $600 to Pennies for Peace.

Many teachers in our District incorporated Mr. Relin’s visit into learning and giving activities for our students. While the PTN at Lake Spokane Elementary used his visit as a culminating event for their penny drive, the ASB at Lakeside Middle School used the visit as a kick-off event for its penny drive. In addition Mr. Relin visited the middle school during the day, speaking with two groups of combined sixth, seventh, and eighth grade social studies/language arts classes and an advanced art class. One Lakeside High School senior went to the event for her Current World Affairs class. “The lifestyle of the people over there makes me very grateful. I couldn’t imagine hiking up a cliff everyday to get to a slanted, small crop field that produced the food my family would be eating for the year. His stories were amazing, and the points he made really made you think. He has inspired me to want to learn about other cultures,” she stated.

Mr. Relin coauthored Three Cups of Tea with Greg Mortenson on Mortenson’s experiences in Pakistan. Mr. Mortenson established Pennies for Peace which raises funds to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan; it’s premise is that it is through education that we may find peace.