YMCA project has worldwide reach

LYNN – When Tony Bellerose started working with children over two decades ago, the thought of war and violence was far from his mind when he planned his daily lessons and activities.But with a war in Iraq, a genocide in Darfur and a politically charged presidential election all making headlines in the last year, the Greater Lynn YMCA’s School Aged Childcare director found himself having to explain very adult concepts to very young children when kids came back to school in September.”A lot of kids were asking questions about violence, and the Iraq War,” Bellerose said. “But you have to be careful what you say to kids sometimes – it is better to talk about the peaceful side of things rather than the negatives like violence.”In an effort to teach culture and tolerance without focusing on conflict, Bellerose brainstormed a unique effort called the Children Stand for Peace Initiative late last year. The goal of the initiative is to reach out to as many agencies and organizations that deal with school aged children across the world and come together over a concept of peace.Bellerose and his students crafted an email which they sent to over 300 agencies across the world asking children to “stand for peace” by simply having groups of children stand and form a peace sign and then forward a picture of it back to the YMCA.Secondly, children were encouraged to write letters and draw pictures describing why it is important to live in a peaceful world.Ultimately, Bellerose hopes to collect as many pictures and letters as possible and coordinate them into a book that would be professionally bound and then forwarded to President Barack Obama.”I wanted to do something globally,” he said. “The goal is to see how other children around the world view peace.”Not knowing what sort of response he would receive, Bellerose hopefully sent out his letter and waited for any sign of interest from his new global pen pals. Much to his surprise, the initiative almost immediately took off, fostering responses from a host of countries including New Zealand and the Caribbean Islands. He even received a packet of drawings and photos from a group of homeless children in Nepal.”We have heard from a lot of groups and they are trying to help us network with other agencies, too,” Bellerose said. “The response has been really fantastic, we have started getting the pictures in this week.”Along with the letter, Bellerose and the YMCA teachers have infused the peace initiatives into the curriculum at the school, and are trying to teach peace throughout the day.With the beginnings of the YMCA’s book of peace hitting the mailbox, Bellerose and his students stood tall for their own peace sign photo Friday, as more than 200 students gathered in the building’s rear parking lot to form a peace sign.As an Item photographer snapped away from the YMCA roof, students enthusiastically raised their hands, signaling peace to the camera and their new friends across the globe.”This is really neat,” said Bellerose. “It is something the kids can get excited about.”Bellerose hasn’t placed a timetable on finishing the book – for now he is just hoping to gather as many photos and mailings as possible.For more information on the project, and to view the letter Bellerose sent out to other agencies, visit www.lynnymca.org.