Celebrating a concept that's never been more timely

There were dark thoughts after 9/11. Some never dissipated.

Then there are people like Gretchen Grad who deal in positives.

In the months after 9/11, starting with a sleepless night in 2002, an idea percolated in Grad's head. It developed into a concept to bring people, young people, together as agents of change.

Why not go big?

Her concept, Grad said, was "to bring together Israeli and Palestinian youth," a population whose conflicts run deep and obviously predate September 2001.

Over the following year, the Glenview resident assembled the pieces of what in the summer of 2003 became the first program for Hands of Peace.

"At its heart it's very much what we still do today, 20 years later, though it's gotten much more sophisticated and bigger, more professional," Grad said. "We had 21 teenage participants, high school age, a mix of students from Israel, Palestine and Americans who were drawn pretty much from the North Shore of Chicago."

The nonprofit organization, based in Glenview and since 2014 also in San Diego with additional staff members in both Israel and Palestine, is offering two upcoming events as 20th anniversary landmarks of Grad developing the Hands of Peace concept in 2002.

A Mother's Day 5K "Walk for Peace" will be held from 8 a.m.-noon Sunday, May 8. It's held locally at Glenview Community Church, 1000 Elm St.

Although Grad said Glenview Community has "supported this program from the very beginning," times and locations of the walk are less important than actually doing it and supporting the organization. People who register may walk anytime, anywhere.

Grad, in fact, will be walking with her mother, Suzanne Burggraaff, and her daughter, Erika, in Rochester, New York.

From 5:30-9 p.m. Sunday, May 22, a benefit, "20 Years Planting Peace," will be held at Loyola University's Cuneo Mansion and Gardens, 1350 N. Milwaukee Ave., Vernon Hills.

The benefit will honor Grad for her leadership, as well as recognize local volunteers, including host families in Glenview who open their homes to students for Hands of Peace's annual summer program.

"20 Years Planting Peace" also will welcome back two alumni from the 2004 program, who will relate how they address today's challenges to peace and justice.

Elias Hawila is a Palestinian who practices family medicine at Tel Aviv Hospital and continues to support Hands of Peace in the summer in San Diego; Stav Arnon is a Jewish woman who works in the Tel Aviv mayor's office and focuses on reducing domestic violence against women in Israel.

A signup for both "Walk for Peace" and "20 Years Planting Peace" is available at aesbid.com/ELP/CHBEN22.

"These two events are just critical to be able to let these teenagers have this leadership experience," Grad said.

Hands of Peace has attracted, trained and graduated more than 700 students through its summer program, which returns July 6-25 to Glenview and San Diego after two years fallow due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Forty students now attend each location.

There currently are a few openings remaining for American participants and several openings for host families. Applicants must be in high school, ages 15 to 17.

"There's nothing like having an Israeli or Palestinian student sitting at your dinner table," Grad said.

She noted a "rigorous" application process encourages future leaders, bringing diversity of gender, geographical location, and political and religious affiliation.

At the center of the three-week summer program is dialogue led by professional facilitators, like Hawila, between the students - some of whom "they've thought of as 'the enemy,'" Grad said - as well as skill building and team-building activities such as a high ropes course.

A farewell celebration will be held July 24 at its usual spot, Glenbrook South High School, Grad said.

A Christian herself, she said the students will visit a church, a synagogue and a mosque to gain greater understanding of each other.

"The interfaith nature sometimes presents challenges, because you're bringing together people with sometimes very different viewpoints," Grad said. "But to be authentic and to work with Israelis and Palestinians, we need all those voices at the table."

Hands of Peace then follows up with program graduates as they go out into the world as the agents of change Grad hoped she could affect, pondering her plan, back in 2002.

"The summer is the starting point, perhaps the most visible point, but it's only the beginning," she said.