Thanks

Thanks to all participants, coordinators and programs in 2009

Los Angeles


Marcielle Brandler and the Tree of Life Center

Paul Revere Middle School

Aviva Family and Children's Services

Dorsey High School

Marlborough High School

McKinley Elementary School

Hollywood Sunset Free Clinic

Vine Elementary School

Alvarado Elementary School

McGaugh Elementary School

HOLA after school program

My Friends Place

Coordinator Georgia Freedman-Harvey

Coordinator Jacob Finn

 

San Francisco

Northern California AmeriCorps InterCorps Council

Build On

Coordinator Kai Wilson

Coordinator Rachel Trocano

Chicago

Mess Hall

Chicago Park District

Neighborhood Writing Alliance

Asimina Chremos - Silverspace

Code Pink and Sue Eleuterio

New York

NCS Residence

Yorkville Common Pantry

Casa Mutua Residence

Park Avenue Women's Shelter

Coordinator Millicent Cavanaugh

Coordinator Mary Myers

Wales

Peace Mala

St. Helen's Primary School - Swansea

Neath Port Talbot College

Lampeter College (Univ. of Wales)

 

Berlin

Hub Berlin

Jannes Riemann

Frauke Godat

Benjamin Degenhart

Antwerp, Belgium

Creatief Schrijven

De Muzeval

Amsterdam

Eduard Douwes Dekkerhuis

Dorus Rijkers School

Nova College

Combiwel Buurtcentra

Oude Kerk

Rietwijker

Boomsspijker

Martyn Claybrough

De Roos

ABC Treehouse

Rima Freeman and Hub Amsterdam (True Valentine)

Linde ten Broek (versidee.nu)

Ilonka Verdurmen and the School der Poezie

The Hague

Valentijn and De Haagse Hogeschool


Thanks also to Global Flower Trading, FTD Floral, Tony Chocolonely, and the Dutch Flower Council (see Partners).

And to participants everywhere who have contacted me from rural US to Japan - for participating in your own creative way in what peace means to you and sharing that with someone on Cupid's special day-

(from Oh, Cupid by Megan Kincaid

Paul Revere Middle School, Los Angeles)

Valentine's day is a harsh holiday

For those who you have forgotten

To strike with the tips of your arrow

Nobody wants to be alone

So if you use the bow to bring the world together

Nobody will ever be alone

And we the mortals may be as happy

As the gods?

But we can't put all the blame

For no world peace on a baby with a bow

The inhabitants of the world must unify we must take the first steps

And Cupid will help us once we have tried

Even though we try to think not

But our steps are more important than

A bow.

Our steps to love and peace are

Larger than you know.

2008

Special thanks to FTD Floral, De Nederlandse anjertelers and Moois (ilovemoois.nl)

Thanks to new schools, volunteer participants and programs that participated this year.


USA

NY Coordinator - Katie Rosenthal

LA Coordinator - Raha Tabankia


New in Los Angeles -

Paul Revere Middle School

McKinley Elementary School (Santa Monica)

Hollywood Sunset Free Clinic

Tree of Life Center and Western Justice Center (Pasadena)


New in New York -

Building With Books (Bronx)

Berkeley Carroll School

Bikram Yoga

The Tea Lounge


Chicago -

Nancy Andria and the Chicago Park District

Idaho -

Idaho Student Peace Alliance

The Netherlands

Amsterdam -

Nova College Esprit

AOC Oost Almelo

Dorus Rijkerschool

De Buurtcentrums in de Pijp


Wales -

Peace Mala

Returning Participants -

Mosaic the City - BC, Canada

In Los Angeles

Camino Nuevo Charter Academy
The Hollywood Schoolhouse
Markham Middle School
Vine Elementary
Marlborough High School
Pilgrim School
Heart of Los Angeles
Brentwood School
My Friends Place

Thousands of carnations, tulips and other flowers were distributed with poetry in Amsterdam. Thousands of carnations were distributed with poetry in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Thousands of carnations were distributed in the varied communities of Los Angeles. Poems were shared also in Chicago, Victoria B.C. Canada and in Idaho by the Idaho Student Peace Alliance as well as in varied communities throughout the world that discovered this Project!  Workshops were held thanks to community organizers. Also thanks to the many participants in different parts of the Netherlands as well as the US - in rural communities who contacted us that made their own flowers to share or passed out favorite poems and held workshops around themes of peace - a Valentine's season to remember.

***

2007

Thanks to Izzy's class in Australia!

Thank you to Kelly Paper in California, filmaker Jeff Freeman,
Pilgrim School and Unknown Theater in Los Angeles.

We are also very grateful to Community Partners
for their guidance, encouragement and support.

Special thanks to poetry submissions from David
Whyte, Mary Jane Sullivan, Charles P. Ries, Marshall
Rosenberg, Stephen Mead, Mary Kennedy Eastham,
Marcielle Brandler, Giovanna Imbesi, Julie
Christensen, Allison Crowe and Yoko Ono.

About one thousand five hundred carnations were
given for distribution to the above participating
programs as well as volunteers who went to varied
locations throughout Southern California: St. John's Hospital,
Pomona, Santa Monica, Venice, West Hollywood and
downtown Los Angeles.

Thanks also (not mentioned above) to The HeArt Project and A Window between Worlds in Southern California.

More than one thousand carnations were distributed
on the subways and streets of Brooklyn and Manhattan.

Many hearts were touched at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica,
among the businesses of downtown LA; shoppers at the Third
St. Promenade and beachgoers on the Venice Beach
boardwalk. Some individuals read their poems aloud,
shared them with their children, and took them home
to friends and family.

People shared their poems with the train conductor and each
other on the F train in Brooklyn and the stations and trains
in downtown Manhattan.

A Canadian group visited their local Emergency Room.

An Australian girls school visited their surrounding neighborhood.

Workshops on the building blocks for lasting peace were held in
community centers.

Participants everywhere are creating a Valentine's day memorable and
meaningful each year.

Please contact us to be involved as a participant or volunteer!

Peacebuilding reminds us of the true power of love - as one
Marlborough High School student stated in her poem submission:


Love.
What a charged word.
What a personal word.
What other word could evoke such strong feelings
and memories than love?
I have felt pain, sadness, joy, tears, laughter,
It has meant many things to me.
And as I look around, I see there is something
special about it.
About love.
Because whenever I have tried,
I have always been able to find it.
In Myself.
In a Book that inspires me.
In Family.
In my Dad's cooking.
In Friends.
In the eyes of a stranger.
In a soup kitchen.
In an airport.
The key is to never stop looking.

Thank you,

Federico Hewson
Project Director