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Peace Through Puppets
Submitted by Gale Warshawsky

Peace Through Puppets is a non-profit organization that was established as a way for people to send puppets to U.S. soldiers in Iraq. The soldiers will give the puppets to children there. Much information is available about this wonderful project at the Peace Through Puppets Web Site at http://www.peacethroughpuppets.net

Gale Warshawsky is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Puppeteers Guild (SFBAPG). This guild is one of the sponsors of Peace Through Puppets. At the SFBAPG’s January meeting in CA, members donated 201 puppets to Peace Through Puppets. Gale and her husband moved to Hawaii 8 years ago, and she is still a member of the SFBAPG. Gale works as a substitute teacher in Hawaii’s public and private schools, and is a member of the faculty at the University of Phoenix, College of Education, Hawaii Campus, where she continues to share her passion for using puppetry in education.

As a member of Pi Lambda Theta, an International Honor Society and Professional Association in Education, and as a Rotarian belonging to the Rotary Club of Windward Oahu Sunrise, Gale wanted to get these organizations involved in the Peace Through Puppets project.

At the Pi Lambda Theta Hawaii Chapter’s February 2, 2008, meeting, members completed 54 felt animal hand puppets that Gale had cut and sewn in advance. Members cut and glued on felt facial features to create lions, elephants, cats, bears, and dog puppets.

54 completed puppets President Carol Riley PLT HI Chapter

On February 5, 2008, members of the Rotary Club of Windward Oahu Sunrise cut animal puppet bodies out of felt. These were then sewn and readied for third grade students at Maunawili Elementary School to complete by cutting facial features and gluing them to the puppets. The students will also write a letter to each of the puppets’ new friend, a child in Iraq that will receive the puppet. The letter will be written from the puppet’s point of view, to say hello to the new friend in Iraq. This literacy activity will reinforce letter writing with third grade students. It also allows these students who were the recipients of the Rotary Dictionaries and Atlas books, to participate in this Peace Through Puppets project and give back to the international community of children. A total of 65 felt animal hand puppets will be completed by these third grade students.

Rotarians from the Windward Oahu Sunrise Rotary Club cut out 65 puppet bodies.

All the puppets from both Pi Lambda Theta Hawaii Chapter and the Rotary Club of Windward Oahu Sunrise will be mailed to Peace Through Puppets.

In addition to preparing puppets to be mailed to Peace Through Puppets, Gale also briefed this project to members of the Mercury Business Associated meeting on January 14, 2008. Members listened to a 15 minute presentation about Peace Through Puppets. At the conclusion of the presentation, Gale asked them to share a handout she had prepared with the URL to the Peace Through Puppets Web Site, with their friends and colleagues. She also shared that on that Web Site it stated “For Monetary Donation, feel free to donate any amount. However, a financial donation of $20 would pay for 12 soft animal puppets and the cost of mailing them to US soldiers in Iraq to give to the children. The members of the Mercury Business Associated decided to collect money at the conclusion of Gale’s presentation. They collected $100 which they sent to Peace Through Puppets. Their generous donation will enable Peace Through Puppets to send 60 puppets to Iraq for the children.