Greg Mortenson

She had numerous ideas about what she could do to make a difference in the world, including donating supplies to the animal shelter and raising money to save the mustangs out West, but it seemed every idea she had, wasn’t quite right. That is, until the day her class at Rhea Valley Elementary School read the book “Listen to the Wind” by Greg Mortenson.

The book is a work written for children that recounts Mortenson’s failed attempt to climb K2 in the Himalayan mountain system and a subsequent difficult but eventually successful attempt to build a school for the villagers who gave him aid.

“After we read the book, I thought I could go around and collect money for them,” Bethany said. “I have a school, so I figured they should have a school too.”

For a girl who loves school and loves to read, Mortenson’s program “Pennies for Peace” just made sense.

The story of how Mortenson found his way to that remote village, and then founded a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting literacy in the region, was first told in the New York Times bestselling book “Three Cups of Tea.” As a result of his adventure, Mortenson founded the Central Asia Institute, based in his hometown, Bozeman, Mont., and started the “Pennies for Peace” fundraising program. The program enlists the aid of U.S. schoolchildren in the institute’s efforts to provide books and supplies and build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Upon reading “Listen to the Wind,” which tells Mortenson’s story through the eyes of children, Bethany knew she had found her cause. Because Bethany loves school and loves to read, “Pennies for Peace” just made sense.

She independently launched her own “Pennies for Peace” campaign at her school from December to January. In just one month’s time, she collected $349.04.

“I counted and rolled all the money myself,” Bethany said. “It’s hard doing it by yourself, but it’s better that way. Most of the money was in pennies, and there were a lot of pennies.”“Bethany just ran with the project,” said her reading teacher, Lisa Akers. “She is a ball of energy and gets excited about anything she gets involved in.”

Considering the time frame Bethany worked within – just a month, which partially fell over her school’s Christmas break – her family and teachers felt she did well to raise as much as she did. She had to cut her collection time short so as not to interfere with another school fundraiser that was starting.

“She’s a really caring kid,” said her mother, Joanne Quesenberry. “She’s always wanting to do things to help. She researched this and came up with the idea herself. She wanted to help other kids.”

Apparently, Bethany’s enthusiasm rubbed off on the other children at Rhea Valley – they embraced the project and came to school every morning with pennies to contribute.

“They made little soup cans and they had labels that said “my pennies for Bethany,” and every day I’d come to collect them and almost all of them would be full,” she said.

Bethany has always been very active in school. She arrives early and usually stays late to help her teachers. She loves to read, and said her family has a library in the basement that she enjoys prowling through. She reads lots of horse books, and is currently reading the “Thoroughbreds” collection.

In addition to reading, Bethany enjoys outdoor activities and loves animals. At her home in Meadowview, she and her brother, Bentley, have two ponies, Firecracker and Pumpkin, two dogs Muffin and Daisy, and two rabbits. She and her brother ride the ponies when they can, or sometimes even hitch them to a wagon to pull them around. The two siblings also enjoy playing in the creek that runs near their house and catching crawfish and lizards to use for bait when they go fishing. When not absorbed in a book or playing outside, Bethany plays basketball, softball and is a cheerleader.

Whatever she is doing, Bethany does it with the trademark energy and enthusiasm that has endeared her to those around her.

“She is really headstrong with anything she wants to do,” Akers said. “She just comes up with ideas and goes with them. She is one of those children that has really touched me, and I think she’ll do great things one day.”

Already, she is doing great things on a small scale. Bethany’s mother said that after a story about her daughter and her “Pennies for Peace” effort aired on local television, a local bookstore sold out of the book “Listen to the Wind.”

“I guess before that no one was interested in the book, but when they saw it on the news, everyone was interested,” Joanne Quesenberry said. “They were selling out of the books and had to order more.”

http://www2.tricities.com/tri/news/local/article/pennies_program_just_felt_right_to_meadowview_fourth-grader/48122/

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