Heinemann

Giving Back

Heinemann, a company dedicated to teachers and change through education, presented Three Cups of Tea author, Greg Mortsenson, with $20,000 for his Central Asia Institute at the annual meeting of the National Council of Teachers of English.

Heineman President Lesa Scott got the idea to raise funds for the CAI after reading Mr. Mortenson’s New York Times #1 bestseller Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote World Peace…One School at a Time. The book chronicled how Mr. Mortenson started the CAI to promote peace and reduce poverty. To date, the Institute has built more than 75 schools in rural Pakistan and Afghanistan and sustains them with teacher professional development, particularly in literacy.

“We are so pleased to help Greg Mortenson and the CAI,” said Scott. “Being dedicated to teachers doesn’t stop at our borders. We have a commitment to teachers everywhere, and we passionately share Mr. Mortenson’s belief in the power of education to transform the world.”

The contribution was collected from Heinemann’s employees and teacher-authors. The CAI will use the money for the construction and ongoing instructional support of schools serving impoverished Pakistani and Afghani children in rural areas. The CAI focuses especially on the education of girls. It takes inspiration from an African proverb: “If you educate a boy, you educate an individual - if you educate a girl, you educate a community.”