“Pennies for Progress: the 10 Million Penny Campaign” is a Helena-based campaign to raise $100,000 to be split evenly between the Rocky Mountain Development Council Head Start program, the federally-funded pre-school whose array of services strengthens families and helps children succeed academically and socially, and the Central Asia Institute, an organization founded and led by Bozeman resident Greg Mortensen, which builds schools in remote mountain regions of Central Asia.
This campaign is being organized and operated by Helena citizens who are volunteering their time and efforts to give back to their local and world communities. The fund raising drive will run for the month of February (2008), during which time we hope to collect 10 million or more pennies through Helena-area schools and businesses (including most Helena banks and credit unions). Each penny raised will be matched by a $1 contribution from major donors (up to $80,000).
Collection efforts include a school based program where students and teachers are encouraged to collect pennies in small bus shaped banks. Plastic collection containers have also been distributed at local Helena businesses where spare pennies and change will be collected. All of the collected funds will be donated to the Rocky Mountain Development Council Head Start program and the Central Asia Institute. Volunteers that are helping to organize and operate this campaign will receive no compensation for their efforts.
Another goal of our campaign is to promote tolerance and peace through education, which helps to remind us all of the tangible difference we can make in our communities and in the world by making simple, small efforts. This campaign proves that no contribution is too small and that everyone can participate. Together, philanthropy and teamwork can provide educational opportunities that will change the future for thousands of children, here in Helena and around the world.
Pennies for Progress incorporates Mortensen’s work in central Asia with a local effort to reduce poverty and promote peace through education. Pennies for Progress will provide the seed money to build a child development center at Rossiter School in Helena, that will serve as many as 35 Head Start children and their families each year. The campaign will provide funds to continue improving learning opportunities in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Mongolia through a partnership with the Central Asia Institute. These funds will support the building of a new school, and provide funding for a teacher’s salary. While the cultures of Central Asia and the United States are vastly different, the issues of poverty and lack of education cross cultural boundaries. The Pennies for Progress Campaign addresses the issue of education as a ladder out of poverty.
