Kelly and her companions in Voices for Creative Nonviolence believe that "where you stand determines what you see." Their programs help participants stand in a place where they can see the impact of war and oppression on the lives of ordinary citizens.

For example, Kelly and her companions lived in Baghdad throughout the 2003 "Shock and Awe" bombing. Voices activists have also lived alongside people during warfare in Gaza, Lebanon, Bosnia and Nicaragua. During each of 10 recent trips to Afghanistan, as an invited guest of the Afghan Peace Volunteers, Kelly has lived alongside ordinary Afghan people in a working class neighborhood in Kabul.

In November, 2012 Kelly joined Voices activists Johnny Barber and Josh Brollier and went to Gaza, arriving just after a cease fire was signed following Israel's Operation Pillar of Cloud. The Voices team visited Gazan families who had lost loved ones and documented destruction caused by the eight days of Israeli Defense Force aerial bombing.

Voices activists formed 70 delegations that openly defied economic sanctions by bringing medicines to children and families in Iraq between 1996 and 2003. "I still feel haunted by children and their heartbroken mothers and fathers whom we met in Iraqi hospitals," Kelly comments. A nurse colleague referred to the hospitals as "Death Row for infants" because most of the young patients died of their wounds or of water-borne illness.

Kelly was sentenced to one year in federal prison for planting corn on nuclear missile silo sites (1988-89) and spent three months in prison, in 2004, for crossing the line at Fort Benning's military training school. As a war tax refuser, she has refused payment of all forms of federal income tax since 1980.

The four co-sponsors of the panel all have long traditions of working for peace.

The Interfaith Council for Peace in the Middle East (IFCPME) is a faith-based organization in Northeast Ohio using education, peaceful activism and dialogue to help raise awareness about Israel, the Palestinians and the Middle East. IFCPME members believe that all three Abrahamic faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, affirm humanity's sanctity and equal value and are dedicated to working for a peaceful resolution to the various conflicts in the Middle East.

The IFCPME's mission to put a human face on the suffering and hardships of people and to help bring to life their aspirations for peace, justice, dignity and freedom endowed by God regardless of color, race, religion or nationality. Members believe in the universality of human rights. IFCPME holds monthly meetings in Brunswick, Ohio and sponsors other events at various locations such as this program in Wooster. Information on IFCPME may be found at www.middleeastinterfaith.org. 

Westminster Presbyterian Church strives to be an inclusive community of believers and seekers, celebrating Christ through acts of compassion and participating in global and local causes. The congregation gives voice to a "progressive" expression of Christianity that emphasizes among other things: intellectual integrity in matters of faith; acceptance of all people regardless of race, creed, age, cultural background, or sexual orientation; openness toward the value of other religious traditions; and a strong commitment to social justice, peacemaking, and the care of our planet.  Information on Westminster may be found at www.wpcwooster.org

Wooster Friends Meeting is the regional congregation of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) with members residing in several counties in this part of Ohio. Meeting for Worship is held at 10:45 a.m. Sundays in the same building with Westminster Presbyterian Church at 353 East Pine Street in Wooster. The format for worship is unprogrammed silence. Visitors are welcome.

The Ashland Center for Nonviolence at Ashland University is a community-campus organization which seeks a world in which human conflict at all levels can be resolved without resorting to violence and in which social justice can be realized. Its steering committee and its membership are made up of individuals from Ashland, Wooster, and other communities in this area of Ohio. Its programming covers a wide array of issues important to the realization of non-violent human interaction. Earlier this year ACN sponsored two programs related to strengthening local communities through support for local entrepreneurs. To learn more about the Ashland Center for Nonviolence, please call 419-289-5313 or visit the website at www.ashland.edu/acn