Page 12 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • July 25, 2012 Wyckoff ‘Pinwheels for Peace’ gains township’s endorsement by John Koster Cadette Girl Scout Marissa Steinberg won the informal endorsement of the Wyckoff Township Committee for her Silver Award project, which will involve making and displaying Pinwheels for Peace. “The goal of this organization is to make a public visual statement about our feelings of peace,” said Marissa Steinberg, who just finished her studies at Wyckoff’s Eisenhower School and will be a freshman at Indian Hills High School in September. “It can be the conflict of war or it can be the violence of our daily lives. Peace has many different meanings, but all in all it has something to do with a state of calm, with no anxiety, the absence of violence and freedom from conflict.” Steinberg is working on this effort with Girl Scouts from Wyckoff’s Troop 17, including Erin and Meghan McGowan, who were also present at the meeting. The Pinwheels for Peace program calls for a massive national display of the homemade pinwheels on Sept. 21, the International Day of Peace, which Steinberg said not many people know about. “On this day, I want pinwheels to be in our town so everyone in Wyckoff can take a moment out of their lives to think of peace,” Steinberg said. “On this day last year, pinwheels were spinning in over 3,500 locations, including the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia, Canada, the Middle East, Africa, and South America. On the pinwheels are messages of what the person who made the pinwheel’s feelings of peace are, and a drawing. The reason why pinwheels are used is because they are a childhood symbol – (a pinwheel) reminds us of a time when things were simple, joyful, and peaceful.” The idea, Steinberg said, originated with two art teachers in Florida, Ann Ayers and Ellen McMillan. The Girl Scout’s plans for Wyckoff were to obtain the Wyckoff Township Committee’s approval for a display on Sept. 21, and to lead her Girl Scout troop in placing pinwheels around the perimeter of Wyckoff Town Hall after school lets out on Sept. 20, a Thursday, so the pinwheels can be on display all day on Sept. 21. She and the other Girl Scouts will then take the pinwheels down. Steinberg said she also hopes to put press releases in local newspapers so individual residents can display pinwheels on their own lawns or in the workplace on Sept. 21. The pencils used to stick the pinwheels in lawns will be donated to the Teaneck school system, and the paper used to make the pinwheels will be recycled. The Scout said that most of the pinwheels will be homemade and that templates are available for download to computers. She and the McGowan sisters brought a handful of pinwheels to the July 17 public meeting of the Wyckoff Township Committee. The members of the governing body were generally enthusiastic about the pinwheels. Township Committeeman Kevin Rooney called Steinberg’s part of the project well thought out. Township Committeeman Brian Scanlan pointed out that he (continued on page 23) Erin McGowan, Marissa Steinberg, and Meghan McGowan with their pinwheels.