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THE PEACE BUILDER 1st Edition : July 2009 The Peace Flag Project Newsletter |
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Greetings!
Welcome to our first issue of The Peace Builder, our newsletter for the Peace Flag Project. We're most excited to be sending out news about the PFP along with other news about peace. Our last section features a variety of news - from "good news" that doesn't get reported often enough to news about our volunteers - there's so much intriguing information out there. We hope you'll enjoy this issue. Please send us feedback and any suggestions you have. Feel free to forward the newletter on to a friend and invite them to join our list. And thank you for your interest in creating more peace on our planet.
In peace and gratitude,
Ginny Fox |
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The Peace Flag Project: Recent Activities and Events |
| Jeremy Gilley, Spokesperson for UN Peace Day |
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 Visits Community Prep School
Exciting visit for Providence peace community: Director Ginny Fox arranged the visit of Jeremy Gilley, well-known British peace activist and advocate for the International Day of Peace, as part of his tour to introduce his new, free educational curriculum for Grades 6 to 12. Gilley was in the US to also talk about his efforts to make the Peace Day a genuine day of peace and global ceasefire as well as a time for humanitarian efforts. Last year, for example, 1.8 million children were vaccinated against polio in Afghanistan following an agreement by all parties to suspend conflict in the region for one day. Senator Lincoln Chafee, Teny Gross (Nonviolence Insitute), Martha Yager (AFSC, Providence), Brad Hyson (Apeiron) also participated in the event. Get more information on Gilley's organization Peace One Day and the peace curriculum at the website www.peaceoneday.org To read more about the Community Prep visit check out www.communityprep.org/htm/pdf/newslettersummer09.pdf
Our Peace Flag Project has celebrated the United Nations International Day of Peace in Providence for several years.
Mark your calendars for this year's Peace Day celebration:
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Burnside Park in Kennedy Plaza
Downtown Providence
Be sure to save the Date! |
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Peace Pole Dedication |
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2nd Annual Peace Garden Celebration
Vartan Gregorian Elementary School, Providence, RI
 A school with its own Peace Garden: Saturday, June 13 the Peace Flag Project officially donated our Peace Pole to the Children's Peace Garden at Vartan Gregorian Elementary School. This Peace Pole was created for us by the amazing woodworker/inventor Bob Elliott, and we are delighted to have such a lovely home for this pole. The garden was filled with music and activities for everyone. Children and adults made Peace Flags, and hundreds of them adorn this courtyard garden.
For info, see http://vgpto.wordpress.com/category/committees/events |
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Peace Flag Project 2009 Summer Events |
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September
6th Annual Celebration - Int'l Day of Peace
Burnside Park at Kennedy Plaza
Downtown Providence
Sunday, September 20
www.thepeaceflagproject.org
"The Peace Flag Project" always appreciates help at these events.
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Bio Highlight |
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Ginny Fox |
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Director Ginny Fox loves to talk about the Peace Flag Project (PFP).  She always refers to it as "the work of her heart."
Ginny says, "I'm often asked why I created the Peace Flag Project (PFP), what was my goal. The answer is, 'I'm not sure' - and I think that's a good thing! I like the Quaker idea about 'being led' to do something, and I have certainly felt led to do this work."
Now that the Project is more than five-years-old, the "why" has become clearer. Fox says, "The Peace Flag Project focuses on ways we can all help to make the world more peaceful - every day. War is a terrible way to try to solve world problems, but I don't think we can really end wars until we become a more peaceful people. I think that if we can behave toward one another in gentler, more generous ways, we have a greater chance to bring about peace and end violence on the planet." |
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Peace News |
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Pam Steager |
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Peacemaker Re-Educates 1,000-Pound Gorilla, or The Real Life of a Peace Studies Graduate, Pam Steager and The Department of Peace
 Advocate Pam Steager has been an outstanding spokeswoman for peace and nonviolence in Rhode Island for more than 30 years. Her strong, articulate voice has helped to move us closer to peace in many small, but important ways. In her work with schoolchildren and police officers and veterans and so many others, she has helped people understand how to create more peaceful communities and a Culture of Peace. Currently, Pam is State Coordinator for the RI Campaign for the RI Campaign for a Department of Peace. Please read more about this gifted, hard-working and resourceful woman in Jill Cicero's thoughtful essay by clicking here.
Ginny Fox is forever indebted to Pam for telling her about the UN International Day of Peace. As soon as Ginny heard about this day, she knew it was an important event to celebrate in Providence. This year marks the 6th annual commemoration. |
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Good News |
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Peace Study |
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Down by the Riverside...Gonna Study Peace Instead U.S. Institute Of Peace
 Good News! Wonderful news! There are more than 400 peace programs around the world, according to a 2008 report in the International Herald Tribune.
Studies show that research done on Peace and Justice through these university programs has been instrumental in preventing conflict in our neighborhoods but in the larger world community. It informs governing bodies including the United Nations and a wide range of Non-Governmental Organizations with focus on peace-building efforts in conflict and post-conflict countries. This is important work being done and possibly the most important developing field of study our world has seen in decades.
"Establishing lasting peace is the work of education;
All politics can do is keep us out of war."Maria Montessori
Please click here to see our entire article by Jill Cicero on several local peace programs as well as information on programs around the world. | |
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In Memoriam |
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David Cartagena |
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David Cartagena - In Memoriam  The RI peace community is mourning a terrible loss. David Cartagena, Streetworker for the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, died in a multi-car crash earlier this month. Grief and sadness are felt in all our communities. A gang member in his young life, David became a man of peace. He devoted his life to persuading young people to avoid his mistakes and to resolving conflicts with the nonviolent ways of Martin Luther King, Jr. David wanted to change the world, and he made a difference in the lives of many people. Two of David's favorite expressions were, "Don't get stuck on stupid," and "Keep it good." Excellent words to live by.
Please visit the Institute's website for more information about this wonderful man: www.nonviolenceinstitute.org |
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Peace Quote |
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Peace Quote |
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We are the peacemakers. Peace is in our hands.
 -- Ginny Fox |
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Apeiron Insitute for Sustainable Living 
grounds of Apeiron's rural Coventry headquarters; the Peace Flag Project hosted two workshops as well as having a booth where attendees could make Peace Flags. Keynote speaker for the event was Jim Merkel, author of prize winning Radical Simplicity: Small Footprints on a Finite Earth and Director of the Global Living Project. Green building, renewable energy, conservation, bio-diesel, organic gardening, solar power are only a few of a broad range of topics presented at the Festival. 