Reed Intermediate School Teacher

Shares Adventures With Newtown Rotary

Reed Intermediate School fifth grade teacher Karen King, founder of the “Pencils for Peace” school supplies drive for students in Shala, Kosovo, spent the school’s spring vacation from April 19 to April 23 traveling to the besieged country to personally deliver supplies to Shala residents.

Newtown Rotary sponsored the trip.

Ms King reported on her journey to Newtown Rotary during its last meeting, on May 24.

Shala is a small town of approximately 3,000 people that was devastated by war, governmental upheaval, and impoverishment in the early 1990s.

Upon on a visit to Ireland a few years ago, Ms King met Paudraig Powers. The widely traveled Mr Powers had been so disturbed by the devastation he witnessed in Kosovo, particularly the town of Shala, that he decided to personally do something about it.

He began making annual pilgrimages to Shala to deliver school supplies and other resources for Shala residents.

One item that was desperately needed was pencils, for Shala students did not even have writing utensils in their newly formed school.

Touched by Mr Powers’ endeavor, Ms King told her class about Shala in January of 2003. By spring, bolstered by the support of several local businesses, 29,000 pencils had been collected — including a 10,000-pencil donation by Curtis Packaging.

This spring, a total of 30,000 pencils was collected, among other supplies, including four basketball hoops.

Ms King had arranged to first ship the supplies to Ireland. Mr Powers would load and ship the supplies to Shala from Ireland. He planned to meet Ms King in Shala.

But there were several delays.

Ms King’s plane arrived a few days late and Mr Powers was delayed when his transport vehicle broke down en route to Shala, in France.

Ms King arrived first — all alone.

The residents of Shala, however, were friendly, Ms King said, and extraordinarily accommodating. Though she stayed with a family that spoke virtually no English, their 10-year-old son knew enough to serve as the official translator.

She was able to discuss the Pencils for Peace program and share stories about her enthusiastic, charitable-minded students at Reed Intermediate School.

Many Reed students and faculty members, for example, purchased $5 bracelets and $2 pencils adorned with the Pencils for Peace logo with all proceeds going to Shala students. Each bracelet had a Shala school child’s name on it; the Reed student had to write a letter to his/her Shala peer.

Ms King was able to share these correspondences with the Shala residents.

Fortunately, Mr Powers reached Shala shortly before Ms King’s scheduled departure. The supplies were at last successfully delivered and Ms King’s return to the United States happened without a hitch.