October 2009 Peace Banquet and Boat Cruise

FOR to Host Celebratory Banquet on Hudson River Cruise: Peace Prize Winners Scheduled to Attend from Iraq and North Carolina

The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) will hold a luncheon banquet on Sunday, October 11, 2009 from 12:00 to 2:00 in New York City. The event will bring together 200 people under the banner of love for peace and the environment on a beautiful boat cruise around lower Manhattan. The cruise will embark from the Chelsea Piers, located on Manhattan's West Side Highway at 23rd Street, boarding at 11:30 a.m., and will travel on both the Hudson River and East River, with scenic views including the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the Atlantic Ocean, and downtown Manhattan & Brooklyn. (Download a "Save the Date" card in PDF format and advertise in our special Commemorative Journal.)

Recipients of FOR's annual international peace prizes are scheduled to travel from the Middle East and from the Southern United States to receive their awards. (See below for more information.) The keynote speaker will be the Rev. Michael Lapsley, the founder of the Institute for the Healing of Memories, an internationally-renowned organizations that works with communities affected by war, conflict, and other life challenges. Reverend Lapsley was known as an outspoken South African anti-apartheid activist in the 1980s, and while living in exile he was the target in 1991 of a letter bomb sent by apartheid agents. The bomb blew off both of Lapsley's arms and severely damaged one each of his eyes and ears; nevertheless, he chose to work for reconciliation and restorative justice, rather than seeking vengeance and retribution.

Peace Prizes

A highlight of the event will be the presentation of FOR’s esteemed peace awards to distinguished peacemakers. Two of FOR's awards will celebrate their 20th and 30th anniversaries, respectively.

The 2009 winner of the International Pfeffer Peace Prize -- established in 1989 by Leo and Freda Pfeffer to honor those around the world working for peace with justice -- is the La'Onf network of Iraqi nonviolence communities. Ibrahim Ismaeel, the chairman of the board of directors of La'Onf who is based in Iraqi Kurdistan, is tentatively scheduled to travel from Iraq to receive the award. He will be accompanied by representatives of September 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, the coalition of family members of those who lost their lives on 9/11/01 and who work for peaceful resolution of conflict in the United States and worldwide.

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 Cynthia Brown. She was co-chair of the first truth and reconciliation commission in the United States, the Greensboro (North Carolina) Truth & Reconciliation Commission. Ms. Brown's leadership for social justice and progressive values includes past service as a Durham city councilwoman, an inspiring campaign for U.S. Senate in North Carolina in 2002, and her continuing role as president of The Sojourner Group.

The 2009 recipient of the FOR Nyack-Area Peace Prize is Frances Pratt, president of the Nyack (New York) NAACP. Ms. Pratt is renowned throughout the Rockland-Westchester County region as a consummate organizer, woman of faith and justice, advocate against racism and oppression, inspirer of young people, fighter for the disenfranchised, and a registered nurse and Horton Hospital employee.

The second annual recipient of the Military Resistance Award will be named and bestowed later this year.

More information about the history of Peace Prize winners.

More information

Tickets to the peace banquet will be sold on a first-come, first-serve basis. 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 peace banquet, including tickets to the event and advertising in the Commemorative Journal, please contact Mary Heckler, FOR’s events coordinator, at 845-358-4601 ext. 32 or by e-mail.