Events

Upcoming Events

Gerry Eitner, president of Communities of Peace Foundation, will be the featured speaker for the Sunday Supper Club on Sunday, January 8th at 6:00 pm. Complete information can be found on sundaysupperclub.org.

Please join us at a Communities of Peace gathering on Wednesday, January 25th, from 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm at the Airlie Conference Center.

We believe that present situations are challenging us to go to a whole new level of engagement – with nature, and with each other. That level is deeper, more connected, more valid, and more loving. It requires each of us to find the inner truth of ourselves, and to contribute this unique gift of Self to the community in which we live.

As current systems break down, we believe that these new ways will become not only mandatory, but are indeed the goal.

There is a natural system that can assist us in reaching this deep inner place of engagement. From that place, we can find new ways of relating that can design the answers to community living in times of great change. The evening’s program will introduce this system.

Please rsvp to 540-341-2859 by Monday, January 23^rd.

Prior Events

Over the past ten years, we’ve done hundreds of events, both big and small. These have ranged from large events at the US Capitol to peace events at the Pentagon, and visits to the State Department. Children from the Boys and Girls Clubs and church organizations have visited international embassies. Entire schools have participated in international exchange programs. Children from orphanages and homeless shelters have done special programs with us. The following events will give you some idea of some of the scope of what we’ve done.

Our team of four people (Gerry Eitner, president, Jan DuPlain, public relations, Marilee Eitner, special advisor, and Lee Thompson) returned from Cape Town South Africa on Wednesday, October 12^th, after attending and presenting at the Fifth Summit of the Global Alliance for Departments and Ministries of Peace.

What a wonderful and meaningful trip this was, for all of us! For six days, we interacted with peace delegates from all over the world. Among the countries that were representated – South Africa, Italy, the Netherlands, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Germany, Romania, Canada, Japan, Pakistan, United States.

Most of the delegates represented NGO organizations that are already active in the peace process. While the Summits were originally formed to track the effectiveness of the movements for Departments and Ministries of Peace in various countries, a groundswell movement has been happening in creating what is being called “infrastructures for peace.” In other words, many of these organizations are “just doing it” in the meantime. Our Communities of Peace organization has been in that mode since the beginning of the US Department of Peace consideration,

Gerry Eitner’s presentation on the Children’s Cloth of Many Colors movement, and its relationship to the Department of Peace movement, was a highlight of the conference program. For this presentation, sections from African orphans were featured. Among these sections were ones from South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Zimbabwe.

Gerry presented a special card from Warrenton schoolchildren for Nelson Mandela to Shaun Johnson, CEO of the Mandela Rhodes Foundation. The card is to be followed by the Communities of Peace Children’s Award to Mr. Mandela. Fifth graders from PB Smith Elementary School in Warrenton VA created cards that were given, along with Emissary of Peace pins, to the conference delegates. Daily reports on the conference highlights were sent back to the schoolchildren so that they could keep apprised of the progress.

Lee Thompson has returned to Decatur, Georgia, where he will be bringing forward our children’s programs in that area. We’re so pleased to have had his wonderful presence as a special part of our team!

On Tuesday, August 9^th, President Gerry Eitner was a featured speaker at the South Africa’s Women’s Day Program at the Embassy of South Africa in Washington DC. Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool hosted the event.

At the function, Ms. Kim Feinberg, Founder and CEO of Tomorrow Trust from South Africa, spoke of the work of her organization, and presented Gerry with a section for the Children’s Cloth of Many Colors that was made by some of the orphans served by Tomorrow Trust. This section, along with others, will be shown at the Fifth Summit of the Global Alliance for Departments and Ministries of Peace in Cape Town South Africa in October of 2011.

Shown with the Cloth section are (left to right) Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool, Gerry Eitner, Vivian Thakhuli, Kim Feinberg, Stella Dhlomo-Imieka.

The Communities of Peace Foundation was a Founding Partner for the first U.S. Global Peace Festival which was held at the West Lawn of the U.S. Capital on August 9th 2008 from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. Titled "One Family Under God," this interfaith, intercultural event was the first of its type on the Capitol grounds.   The focus of the event was on compassion, family and acts of service toward one another.

Over 20,000 people were in attendance.

At this program, we showed a number of sections from our Children's Cloth of Many Colors, made by children from Washington's embassies, places of worship, and sent from children in many states.   Many of the children attending were in national dress. Between 80-90 sections were received especially for this event.

The event included over 160 core partners, including United Way and the Martin Luther King Coalition. Founding partners, in addition to the Communities of Peace Foundation, include the Points of Light Institute (www.pointsoflight.org) and the Universal Peace Federation (www.upf.org)

On September 19, 2010, the entire Children’s Cloth of Many Colors was displayed at the Lincoln Memorial in honor of the International Day of Peace. Ambassador John McDonald, who initiated the idea for the IDOP, and Communities of Peace founder Gerry Eitner were speakers for the day.

In August of 2008, children from Warrenton Virginia came with us to the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington DC. There, along with Ethiopian children, they made a combined section of the Children’s Cloth for the Global Peace Festival. The children had the opportunity to talk with Ethiopian Ambassador Samuel Assefa, as well as to interact with the Ethiopian children.

On Sunday, September 14, 2008, a Unity Walk was held in Washington DC in honor of the International Day of Peace. The interfaith walk proceeded down Massachusetts Avenue, starting at the Washington Hebrew Congregation, then continued to the National Cathedral, the Mosque, and ended at the Gandhi statue. The Children's Cloth of Many Colors was featured as part of the program.

Host Communities included: Washington Hebrew Congregation, Annunciation Roman Catholic Church, National Gurdawara: A Sikh Temple, Washington National Cathedral, St. Sophia's Greek Orthodox Cathedral, The Community of Christ, St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral, Soka Gakkai-USA, Embassy of the Vatican, Islamic Center of Washington, Association of United Hindu-Jain Temples, and the Church of the Pilgrims.

Speakers included the Reverend Richard Cizik, Arun Gandhi, Most Reverend Martin Holley, Dilip Jhaveri, Dr. Abdullah Khouj, the Rev. Dr. Jeffrey K. Krehbiel, Rev. Doctor Samuel T. Lloyd III, Rev. Clark Lobenstine, Rabbi Bruce Lustig, Imam Mohamed Magid, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, Dr. Rajwant Singh, the Rev. Mpho A. Tutu, and Julia Wilson.

Participating embassies included Bahrain, Canada, France, Germany, Philippines, and the Vatican.

On September 19, 2008, Gerry Eitner presented the "Visionary as Peacemaker" award to Ambassador John McDonald, Chairman of the Institute for Multitrack Diplomacy, for his outstanding work in creating peace.

The award was part of the September meeting of the United Religions Initiative of Washington DC, to commemorate the International Day of Peace. Ambassador McDonald spoke of his initiating the idea for the International Day of Peace when he was leading a mission from the United States to the United Nations.

He also spoke of his successful conflict resolution work in Cyprus and India/Pakistan, where differing religions were involved. Among Ambassador McDonald's many accomplishments are: initiating the multi-track approach to peace, serving as the first president for the Iowa Institute for Peace, spearheading the two "Decades of Water" at the United Nations, and initiating conflict resolution studies at the War College.

More information can be found on www.imtd.org.