This Week’s News

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Hello Peace Crane Friends,

Here’s the latest:

Please sign up for our Peace Crane Newsletter!

Rubia and I attended an inspiring meeting with the Education Peace Team of the International Day of Peace NGO Committee at the United Nations. We are pumped to be teaming with this incredible group of friends and are gearing up to launch a 100 day countdown to Peace Day. For those of you also on the committee, please let us know how we can support your efforts and work together to make this the most successful Peace Day ever.

Do you speak another language? We have a few requests for classroom materials in different languages. Here is the PDF we need translated. Please send me a note to let me know what language you can help with. I will send you the word doc, so you can edit directly and return it to me. Thank you!

Based on email I’ve received, we may have more than one million participants in the Peace Crane Project this September. Because we are all volunteer, with “real” jobs as well, we are hoping everyone will sign up early, to give us more opportunity to build connections and prepare for the big week. So, please consider joining us soon.

If everyone that participates signs up with us, we will have an accurate participation count, and a much better chance of obtaining funding for next year. So, if you are participating, please let us know.

We have classrooms in the USA, Russia, and Africa looking for Peace Crane exchange partners. Would your classroom like to trade cranes with a classroom in another part of the world? Please join us.

We have upcoming live video events for both educators and children. Please visit our Skype page and sign up to join us.

Thanks to Rubia for sending out last week’s update. Rubia is a marvel, producing our videos and creating great energy for us around the world. (Just don’t drink her tea.) Thanks, Rubes!

I’ll be traveling again soon, to attend BookExpo in NYC. I’m looking forward to seeing some of you there. I’ll send a new update when I return. Meanwhile….

How You Can Help:

1. Please introduce your teachers and school districts to our websites, both Armed with the Arts and The Peace Crane Project.

2. Are you a CPA based in CA? Please volunteer to help with our quarterly filings.

3. Volunteers to host our Skype program this fall. No experience necessary. Shifts will be 2 hours in length, anytime within the 24 hours of Thursdays GMT.

4. Donate your frequent flyer miles. We’re “flying” all around the world almost every day, connecting via Skype. But, we will be using the airlines this fall to get us to various events, both for Peace Day on September 21, and festival appearances around the US.

5. Help us translate our instructional guides into another language.

Please contact me if you or someone you know is able to help. Thanks!

I leave you this week with a picture taken by Jennifer Thym. Daisy Scouts in Hong Kong! Thanks, Jen!
Daisy Scouts Troop 20 HK Cranes

Until next week,

Sue

Here’s What’s New This Week!

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Hello Peace Crane Friends,

Here’s the latest:

We are getting quite a few offers of booth space at various festivals around the USA. We look forward to making some official announcements about when and where, soon.

We continue to receive sign-ups for our Peace Crane Project. Although Peace Day is in September, we are hoping everyone will sign up early, to give us more opportunity to build connections and prepare for the big week. So, please consider joining us soon.

We have classrooms in the USA and Africa looking for Peace Crane exchange partners. Would your classroom like to trade cranes with a classroom in another part of the world? Please join us.

After a successful trial run, connecting three continents via video Skype, we will be launching a program to connect school and community groups around the world. We will begin with a 24 hour live video event one day per week, starting this fall. This will allow time for everyone in the world to drop in, connecting with prearranged matches. If you are an educator and would like to join us, please let me know.

We’re making strides in India! With hundreds of millions of children in India, our potential there is staggering. And, we have an incredible team heading up our efforts. Rubia Braun, our trustee and producer of our promotional videos, will oversee our efforts there. And, a big thank you and welcome to Kranthi Varma, our new Chief Operations Officer in India. They are working on a couple of exciting ideas and will have news for us soon.

Rubia and I have been invited to join the International Day of Peace NGO Committee at the United Nations, as members of their education and media teams. We are excited to have their support, and look forward to working with them to raise awareness of Peace Day this September.

How You Can Help:

1. Please introduce your teachers and school districts to our websites, both Armed with the Arts and The Peace Crane Project.

2. Are you a CPA based in CA? Please volunteer to help with our quarterly filings.

3. Volunteers to host our Skype program this fall. No experience necessary. Shifts will be 2 hours in length, anytime within the 24 hours of Thursdays GMT.

4. Donate your frequent flyer miles. We’re “flying” all around the world almost every day, connecting via Skype. But, we will be using the airlines this fall to get us to various events, both for Peace Day on September 21, and festival appearances around the US. Do you have frequent flyer miles piling up that you won’t be using? Please consider gifting them to us. Please send me a note so we can review the transfer options.

Please contact me if you or someone you know is able to help. Thanks!
boy_scouts

This Week’s News

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Here’s the latest:

We took the plunge and filed for 501c3 status this week. This means your US based donations will be tax deductible soon. It also means I have been officially joined by two new trustees.

Rubia Braun was born in Australia, and currently lives in India. She has been producing our amazing videos and overseeing much of our overseas outreach. She’s making some incredible strides out there and will be updating you all herself soon.

Jan DelCarlo and I have been friends since childhood and brings decades of experience teaching elementary school in Northern California. She will be helping schools integrate our project into the classrooms, and reaching out to US based teachers and school districts in the coming months.

Thanks to the generous donation of free group video conferencing from Skype, we held our first live video meeting this week, linking three continents to discuss the possibilities of this medium. We are planning to launch an ongoing opportunity for classrooms around the world to video connect soon. If you are willing to volunteer as a host for several hours each week, please let me know. Since we are global, we will have volunteer hours available around the clock, in two hour shifts. It’s pretty fascinating, and easy to host. I hope you will consider joining us.

We also set up our own Teacher Tube channel this week.

We continue to receive sign-ups for our Peace Crane Project. Although Peace Day is in September, we are hoping everyone will sign up early, to give us more opportunity to build connections and prepare for the big week. So, please sign up soon.

We have launched our Peace Crane Exchange List. We currently have classrooms in Kansas, California, Nigeria, and Kenya looking for schools to exchange with. The exchanges can happen via regular mail, Skype meetings, or video exchanges. Please join us!

Peace Crane Pictures! We get pictures! I’m a little behind in getting them posted. Keep ‘em coming. I’ll do my best to keep up.

I personally went on a school visit this week. The kids at the Santa Barbara Community Academy folded a LOT of cranes, and even learned how to draw Mickey Mouse while I was there. They have joined our crane exchange program and hope to be swapping cranes around the world soon. If you are in the U.S. and would like to invite a creative person into your classroom to speak, please let me know.

Want to help out? Here is our…

WISH LIST

1. Experienced grant writers

2. A Santa Barbara based accountant

3. Volunteer hosts for our Skype program.

Please contact me if you or someone you know is able to help. Thanks!

Sue
quasim

This week at Armed with the Arts

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It’s been another incredibly busy week here for us. Here’s the latest:

Thanks to the generous donation of free group video conferencing from Skype, we will be holding live video link meetings between school children around the world, offering the opportunity to share their cranes and learn about one another. We have scheduled a Peace Crane Project Cultural Exchange Brainstorming Session for this Thursday. If you are an educator and would like to join us, please sign up. No kids invited this first meeting. But, we already have educators from Brazil, Nigeria, India, and the U.S. joining us.

We continue to receive sign-ups for our Peace Crane Project. Although Peace Day is in September, we are hoping everyone will sign up early, to give us more opportunity to build connections and prepare for the big week. So, please consider joining us soon.

We are starting a list of classrooms and groups interested in exchanging cranes by mail. If you have signed up, we will start the mailings soon. We have some interesting locations wanting to exchange, including a class in Nigeria.

Peace Crane Pictures! We get pictures! This week, from Qatar and France, among other places.

We’ve got a couple of school visits scheduled this week. If you are in the U.S. and would like to invite a creative person into your classroom to speak, please let us know.

We got some nice publicity from Skype this week. You can read about it on our Facebook page. If you have not “liked” us, please do so while you’re there!

As we continue to expand and connect with many more schools and countries around the world, we remain all volunteer without outside funding. Our little team is mighty, but already beginning to bump up against what is possible for us to do alone. With that in mind, I will be posting a “wish list” here each week, outlining exactly what we need most in the coming week. Thanks for jumping in, if you are able.

WISH LIST

1. Pro bono attorney and/or accountant to help us set up Armed with the Arts as a 501c3.

2. An experienced eye in the world of non-profits to review and advise on our business plan.

3. Volunteer hosts for our Skype program.

Please contact me if you or someone you know is able to help. Thanks!

We’ll be back with more news soon.

Sign Up for the Peace Crane Project

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Please sign up your child, classroom, or community group for our Peace Crane Project as soon as possible. We are inviting every child in the world to join us the week of Peace Day in September.

Many schools plan their curriculum months in advance. With school schedules varying so dramatically around the world, we want to make sure we allow plenty of time to become a part of the September school curriculum in your community. Please join us as soon as you are able.

In the coming months, we will strive to find the perfect crane exchange partners, arrange classroom volunteers for some of you, and target our efforts to your specific needs.

We hope to hear from you soon!

boy_scouts

Thanks for Visiting the Festival

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Thanks to everyone that stopped by our booth at the Burbank Arts Festival. We had a lot of fun and made a LOT of cranes with the kids. Check out our pictures from the event.

A big thank you to our volunteers, June Fujimoto and Katya Bowser. We could not have been a success there without you!