Please excuse any cross-postings.

It's not too late to participate in the Pennies for Peace Campaign. Please let me know if your school or public library is participating, even if it's not through the State Library.

Best, Sharon Rawlins, Youth Services Consultant, NJ State Library, sraw...@njstatelib.org

Throughout March 2011, the New Jersey State Library, the New Jersey Library Association and libraries throughout New Jersey plan to honor the legacy of Abraham Lincoln, as part of the national Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commemoration, by collecting pennies.

The New Jersey State Library encourages New Jersey school and public libraries to join the campaign.
. Register at the Pennies for Peace website. You can receive free postcards and stickers and other materials.
. Let us know too. Contact Gary Cooper at ...@njstatelib.org">gcoo...@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. (gcoo...@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 at an event later in the spring.

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, 2011. We'll send all the checks to Pennies for Peace.

Send your check to:
Sheri 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, 2011.

Media Inquiries: Gary Cooper email: ...@njstatelib.org">gcoo...@njstatelib.org
Contact for Libraries: Sharon Rawlins email: sraw...@njstatelib.org.

The pennies collected this year from New Jersey's libraries will again be donated to Pennies for Peace which collects funds for the Central Asia Institute co-founded by Greg Mortenson, who is the subject of the bestselling biography, "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace.One School At A Time."  Mortenson has made it his life's work to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan to educate students where no schools existed. 

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.

As of 2010, the Central Asia Institute has established more than 145 schools, educating over 64,000 children.  Of those, 52,000 are girls who did not have much opportunity to attend school.

The following libraries/library systems are participating:

Ridge High School, Basking Ridge
Bernards Township Public Library, Basking Ridge
Carteret Public Library
Cedar Grove Public Library
Cranford Public Library
Demarest Public Library
Franklin Lakes Public Library
Miller Branch Library, Jersey City
Livingston Public Library
Madison High School, Madison
Middletown Township Library
Milford Public Library
Gloucester County Library System, Mullica Hill
Neptune Public Library
New Providence School District Libraries
West Essex High School, North Caldwell
Ocean City High School
Roxbury Public Library, Succasunna
Somerville Public Library
Spotswood Public Library
Oak Knoll Lower School, Summit
New Jersey State Library, Trenton
Talking Book & Braille Center, Trenton
BCIT Westhampton
West Caldwell Public Library
Monmouth University & Institute for Global Understanding West Long Branch