Monona Girl Scouts Dedicate New Peace Pole and Garden

Monona Girl Scouts Dedicate New Peace Pole and Garden
Saturday, June 7, 10:30 am
Monona Public Library Lawn
1000 Nichols Road, Monona, Wisconsin

For more info on Peace Poles: Peace Pole Project

From the Monona Girl Scouts Troop 603 co-leader Leslie Frank of Monona:

Monona, Wisconsin -- It may be only a symbol for peace, but one Monona Girl Scout Troop figures it's at least a place to start. After years of fundraising, planning, and community activity, Girl Scout Troop 603 will be dedicating a new Peace Pole and garden on the Monona Public Library grounds on Saturday, June 7, at 10:30 am. The wooden pole is engraved with the phrase "May Peace Prevail on Earth" in twelve languages, selected by the Troop and spoken in the surrounding community -- English, Arabic, Hmong, German, Spanish, Swahili, Hebrew, Japanese, French, Hindi, Tibetan, and Ho-Chunk.

"It's been a real learning process for the girls," says Troop 603 co-leader Leslie Frank-Taylor. "This dedication will be a great way to celebrate their service, and welcome a new feature to the Monona landscape."

The Peace Pole initiative began in 2005 with a Junior Bronze Award project to fold 1000 origami cranes, most of which still hang in the Monona Public Library children’s area. The “1000 Peace Crane Project” is an international tradition to promote peace and remember young victims of war, dating back to the destruction of Hiroshima by the atomic bomb. The project became a fundraiser and awareness-raiser for the Troop. And the Peace Pole -- another international symbol of hopes for peace -- emerged as a new goal for their community work.

Some 200,000 Peace Poles stand in gardens and public places around the world. The Monona Peace Pole will be a permanent element of the Monona Public Library's landscape, installed in collaboration with Monona Library Director Demita Gerber, along with the Library's Board and staff. The Troop raised all the funds and contributed the plants and labor for the pole and its surrounding garden.

The dedication is free and open to the public. Scheduled participants include troop members, Girl Scouts of Black Hawk Council Board President Beth Ryan, and singer-songwriter Ken Lonnquist. Light refreshments will follow.

CONTACT:

Leslie Frank-Taylor, co-leader Girl Scout Troop 603

608-222-1865

mobile: 608-347-1041