Hands of Peace to hold 'Seasons of HOPE' benefit
Hands of Peace will spread hope and inspiration for a more peaceful world at its annual Chicago benefit - Seasons of HOPE - on Sunday April 7, at Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe.
The event will raise funds for the teen leadership program, which empowers American and Middle Eastern high school students to be leaders of change in their communities by finding their voices as leaders, overcoming stereotypes and learning skills that are necessary for working toward peace.
Hands of Peace was born in the Chicago suburbs 16 years ago, and over the years has expanded its efforts to break down the walls of conflict in the Middle East and throughout the world. The annual Summer Program brings together young people of widely varied backgrounds, many of whom come from areas deeply divided by conflict and violence, and helps them forge a connection and find common ground, beginning with three weeks of dialogue sessions, educational activities, community organizing workshops and team-building outings.
The participants from the Middle East live with local host families. Following the summer program, Hands of Peace alumni continue to grow as peace leaders, taking part in seminars, alumni club activities and leadership programs to implement community projects in their hometowns.
The Seasons of HOPE benefit will feature a short film made by a Hands of Peace participant, as well as two program alumni sharing how the experience transformed their lives and helped shape their journeys of volunteerism and activism over the past several years.
The speakers are 2011 Israeli participant Noam Preminger, who now lives in Tel Aviv-Yafo, and 2009 Palestinian participant Zinat Kabbani, who now lives in the Palestinian West Bank. Both Preminger and Kabbani have received the Hands of Peace Rooftop Consciousness Award, which recognizes outstanding program alumni who exemplify a higher level of thinking about "the other" and demonstrate this level of consciousness in their daily lives.
Seasons of HOPE will be from 5:30-9 p.m. April 7 at the Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake-Cook Road, Glencoe. Parking is free for benefit guests. The evening includes a hosted bar, gourmet appetizers and dinner, live and silent auctions, and the opportunity to connect with Hands of Peace alumni and hear from the featured speakers. Early-bird tickets are available for $200 per ticket at www.handsofpeace.org.
Benefit speaker Preminger, who is from Israel, has volunteered with an organization that brings together Arab and Jewish schools for meetings, and he helped initiate a social media campaign to spread the message that: "Hate is not a value. Racism is not the way."
Thousands of Israelis and Palestinians shared the message, and the movement received coverage from major news outlets on both sides. Preminger is currently participating in a debut program for older Hands of Peace alumni. The program is a joint venture between EcoPeace and Hands of Peace and provides tools to advance solutions in environmental diplomacy and work with alumni to become agents of change, culminating in a project that will directly benefit villages in Israel and in Palestine.
Benefit speaker Kabbani, a Palestinian who is pursuing a career in internal medicine, also has been involved in other peacebuilding organizations, including Building Bridges for Peace, where she focused on issues relating to political conflicts, including the situation of Native Americans in the U.S.
She is also an action partner at OXFAM, which works to alleviate global poverty; volunteers with Humanity Crew, which gives socio-psychological support for refugees in Greece; and volunteers with Qawarib, a Palestinian youth group that helps families in crisis in the West Bank.
Hands of Peace is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) global interfaith organization. It was founded by members of the Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities, including Gretchen Grad, who was inspired to start the organization shortly after 9/11, believing that peace could be nurtured, one person at a time.
The effort has expanded in size, strength and scope over the past 16 years, with a San Diego program launching in 2014. Worldwide, Hands of Peace now has more than 600 alumni living and working for peace across the United States and throughout Israel and the Palestinian West Bank.
For more information, go to www.handsofpeace.org.
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