FOR Festival of Peace

The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) will host its fourth annual Festival of Peace Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008 from 1:00 to 5:00 in Upper Nyack, New York. The popular event, which has attracted more than 400 residents of Rockland County and the lower Hudson Valley for the past three years, is FOR’s open house. The community is invited to enjoy the beautiful grounds of Shadowcliff, tour FOR’s national headquarters and learn more about the mission and programs. This year the theme of the festival, “Peace in the Human Family/Peace with the Earth,” will be celebrated with live international music, poetry, performance art, special activities and entertainment for children, plus a mixed media art exhibit and sale that features the work of local artists.

Peace Prizes

Another highlight of the Festival of Peace is the presentation of FOR’s esteemed peace awards to distinguished peacemakers. The 2008 winners of the International Pfeffer Peace Prize that was established in 1989 by Leo and Freda Pfeffer to honor those around the world working for peace with justice are a community of peace makers in Latin America. Serpaj Morelos of Mexico, the most active group of Servicio Paz y Justicia; Ricardo Esquivia, the founder of Sembrandopaz (Sowing Seeds of Peace) and recognized by many as the Gandhi of Colombia; and Guillermo Mateus-Corredor, an inspector in the Human Rights Special Investigations Unit of the Inspector General’s Office in Colombia, will share the international award.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Award, established by FOR in 1979 to recognize unheralded persons or groups working in the United States in the tradition of Dr. King, will be presented to George Lakey. Mr. Lakey has been an organizer, visionary, trainer, writer and educator of nonviolent social change for more than fifty years.

This year’s recipients of the FOR Nyack Area Peace Prize are the Rockland Coalition for Peace & Justice. The Coalition sponsors regular meetings and numerous progressive activities, most notably the anti-war vigils that are held on the corner of Route 59 in Nanuet every Saturday since November 2002 when the U.S. entered war with Iraq.

The first annual recipient of the Youth Military Resistance Award is BAY-Peace, of Oakland, CA. BAY-Peace is a youth led organization that has brought awareness to the San Francisco Bay Area about the myths of the military and stood against agressive military recruitment through workshops, trainings, and their summer 2008 Boot Camp, an opportunity for youth considering military service to hear from all sides in the military debate. Previously known as Alternatives to War through Education, BAY-Peace began as a project of CCCO in October 2004.

BAY-Peace was nominated for the Military Resistance Award by Escenthio Marigny Jr, a volunteer with Bay Peace and participant in the spring 2008 Youth Arts Delegation to Colombia, a collaborative project between FOR's Colombia Program and the Nonviolent Youth Collective.

More information about the history of Peace Prize winners.

More information

Admission to the Festival of Peace is free; art, food and a variety of gift items will be for sale. If you live in the area of FOR’s national headquarters located at 521 North Broadway, Nyack, NY, and would like to be involved in the preparations for the Festival, we welcome volunteers. For all, near and far, please consider placing a message in the Commemorative Journal that is distributed to all who attend.

For more information about the Festival of Peace, the Commemorative Journal or the Art Show & Sale please contact Mary Heckler, FOR’s Events Director, at 845-358-4601 ext. 32, or mheckler at forusa.org.