Pupils of Hancock Grammar School have joined the Pennies for Peace campaign, a program of the Central Asia Institute founded by Greg Mortenson, author of the New York Times No. 1 best-seller “Three Cups of Tea,” Kathy McGlinchey said.
“We are attempting to collect 100,000 pennies to help build schools in southern Asia,” particularly in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and we are looking for community support,” McGlinchey said.
The pupils have joined the program “to broaden their cultural horizons and become members of a global family dedicated to peace,” she said.
During the program, the pupils “will have an opportunity to study the cultures of Afghanistan and Pakistan, learn to work and share together in their … campaign, and come to understand their own capacity as philanthropists, one penny at a time.”
While one penny “doesn’t buy much in Hancock,” McGlinchey wrote, in Pakistan and Afghanistan “it can buy a pencil, start an education and transform a life.”
From the one penny buying a pencil to 15 pennies buying a notebook to $20 purchasing school supplies for one year in those countries, every penny counts.
Pennies will be collected at Hancock Grammar School through the end of January, and donations of pennies can be dropped off at the school office.
For more information about this program, call HGS, 422-6231, or write McGlinchey or Julie Grindle, Hancock Grammar School, Cemetery Road, Hancock 04640.
For more information about CAI, visit www.ikat.org.
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Downeast Diversity Center director David Dauphinee invites anyone who wants to ring in the new year, “family-style,” to come to the DDC Chem-Free New Year’s Eve with doors open from 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 31, to 12:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 1, at the Center at 47 Foster Road in Ellsworth.
Attendees will enjoy Behr Garrecht’s Waffle Bar and are encouraged to “bring a topping to share, a bowl of chips or a bag of popcorn. Anything is appreciated, but nothing is required,” the invitation states.
The film “The Family Stone” by gay writer-director Thomas Bezucha will be shown at 9:30 p.m. Garrecht will lead “a time of guided meditation” after the movie.
The Diversity Center’s mission is to cultivate “a healthy, inclusive environment where individuals, regardless of sexual orientation, are safe and thriving.”
For more information about this organization or this event, call 951-2727.
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Carol Sherman reports that five performances of Gian-Carlo Menotti’s beloved Christmas season classic, “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” will be presented at All Souls Congregational Church in January.
The hour-long show begins at 7 each evening Saturday, Jan. 2; Sunday, Jan. 3; Wednesday, Jan. 6; Friday, Jan. 8, and Saturday, Jan. 9, at the church at 10 Broadway in Bangor.
Directed by Stephanie and Sam Lanham, the show stars Bridget Larson, Bruce Mallonee, Steve Gormley, Sam Lanham, Chris Viner and introduces Matthew Williamson as Amahl.
Admission is free. All donations at the door will benefit the Honduras and Eastport mission programs of All Souls Church and mission programs of St. John’s Episcopal Church.
For more information, call Sherman at All Souls Church, 942-7354.
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In an October press release, TD Bank reported that through the TD Charitable Foundation it donated $2,500 to the Ronald McDonald House of Bangor “as part of the bank’s commitment to giving back to the community.”
According to the release, the funds will be used to support the organization’s Extension Program “providing services such as respite opportunities, emergency funds and communications support to families of children being treated for cancer or blood disorders.”
Patricia Beckwith is the longtime manager of the Ronald McDonald House on State Street in Bangor.
Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; javerill@bangordailynews.net; 990-8288.