{"id":3492,"date":"2014-12-15T12:48:21","date_gmt":"2014-12-15T17:48:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peacealliance.org\/?p=3492"},"modified":"2014-12-15T12:48:21","modified_gmt":"2014-12-15T17:48:21","slug":"the-gift-of-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peacealliance.org\/the-gift-of-peace\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gift of Peace"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>December 15th, 2014<\/p>\n<p>Dear Friends,<\/p>\n<p><b>At this time of year, I want to personally write to our supporters and tell each of you how very much you are appreciated and how you have helped make a difference.<\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/org.salsalabs.com\/o\/696\/p\/salsa\/donation\/common\/public\/?donate_page_KEY=2573\" class=\"external\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/org.salsalabs.com\/o\/696\/images\/fundraising\/holiday%20letter\/logo_main_sm_2014fund.png\" alt=\"Donate\" width=\"155\" height=\"208\" align=\"right\" border=\"0\" hspace=\"17\" vspace=\"17\" \/><\/a> With what\u2019s going on in the world, on our streets, and in our schools, it\u2019s clear that peace is needed more than ever.\u00a0 But, achieving peace is a process, requiring commitment, perseverance, education, and persuasion.\u00a0 It is with your help that The Peace Alliance has been able to empower our grassroots network to utilize these characteristics to build a more peaceful and caring society.<\/p>\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/org.salsalabs.com\/o\/696\/p\/salsa\/donation\/common\/public\/?donate_page_KEY=2573\" class=\"external\" rel=\"nofollow\">At this giving time of year, we hope you will consider a donation to support our continued peace efforts.<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/org.salsalabs.com\/o\/696\/p\/salsa\/donation\/common\/public\/?donate_page_KEY=2573\" class=\"external\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>As we near the end of The Peace Alliance\u2019s 10th year, I am struck by how far we have come, and the impact we have made, to positively affect the way individuals, communities, and even nations respond to conflict and violence through effective programs and processes that yield better understanding, cooperation, and, ultimately, restorative resolutions. These are powerful alternatives to the punitive, militaristic, and incarcerating approaches that dominate our culture today. <b>We could not have achieved this without the encouragement, commitment, and support from you and so many others.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><i>&#8220;I was interested in doing something important, but I didn\u2019t know how until The Peace Alliance came along and inspired me&#8230; I felt helpless and hopeless because I saw all these problems and didn\u2019t know what to do about it. Now I feel very strongly about what I can do and how I can make an impact &#8212; and how important I am to the cause of building peace in my community and around the world.&#8221; <\/i><b><br \/>\n&#8211; Cheryl Kaplan, Gainesville, FL, Action Team Leader<\/b><\/p>\n<p>In just the past year, we made tremendous strides in:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Educating policy makers and the media about the critical need for <b>policies that uplift and save kids\u2019 lives by advancing awareness of prevention and intervention alternatives to incarceration that break the school to prison pipeline<\/b> \u2013 particularly the Youth PROMISE Act.<\/li>\n<li>Disseminating important information and pushing lawmakers to support <b>proven peacebuilding approaches in U.S. foreign policy.<\/b><\/li>\n<li>Greatly expanding our network of peacebuilding advocates, as well as our <b>Student Peace Alliance and Peace Alliance Action Teams<\/b>, through an intense outreach in high schools, colleges, and communities.<\/li>\n<li>Being true to the <b>innovative vision of the original Department of Peace legislation<\/b> through the policies and programs we support.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Thanks to the hard work of Peace Alliance volunteers and Action Teams, over <b>50,000 contacts were made with Congressional offices and Members<\/b> through letters, emails, and phone calls; some <b>40 Letters to the Editor and Op-eds have been published<\/b>; major <b>editorials<\/b> have been written by such publications as The Baltimore Sun; and close to <b>200 actual Congressional office advocacy visits<\/b> and information drops were conducted.<\/p>\n<p>We are proud of these accomplishments, but there is so much more to do in this challenging world of ours. The Peace Alliance is well positioned to provide leadership to the efforts that will create a more peaceful and sane world.\u00a0 But, all this takes resources and requires that we turn to our most loyal supporters once again to ask for your generosity. The funds you provide are only used in the most cost-effective and impactful way.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/org.salsalabs.com\/o\/696\/p\/salsa\/donation\/common\/public\/?donate_page_KEY=2573\" class=\"external\" rel=\"nofollow\"><b>With your help we can and will play a meaningful role in achieving a truly sustainable peace, and we welcome your contributions with gratitude.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In appreciation,<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/org.salsalabs.com\/o\/696\/images\/staff\/Bob-Baskin-sig.jpg\" alt=\"Bob Signature\" width=\"150\" height=\"34\" border=\"0\" hspace=\"4\" vspace=\"4\" \/><br \/>\nBob Baskin<br \/>\nPresident<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At this time of year, I want to personally write to our supporters and tell each of you how very much you are appreciated and how you have helped make a difference.  Achieving peace is a process, requiring commitment, perseverance, education, and persuasion.  It is with your help that The Peace Alliance has been able to empower our grassroots network to utilize these characteristics to build a more peaceful and caring society. At this giving time of year, we hope you will consider a donation to support our continued peace efforts.<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":3493,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Gift of Peace - The Peace Alliance<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/peacealliance.org\/the-gift-of-peace\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Gift of Peace - The Peace Alliance\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At this time of year, I want to personally write to our supporters and tell each of you how very much you are appreciated and how you have helped make a difference. 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At this giving time of year, we hope you will consider a donation to support our continued peace efforts.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/peacealliance.org\/the-gift-of-peace\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Peace Alliance\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-12-15T17:48:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/peacealliance.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/logo_main.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"504\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"583\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matthew\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Matthew\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peacealliance.org\/the-gift-of-peace\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peacealliance.org\/the-gift-of-peace\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Matthew\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peacealliance.org\/#\/schema\/person\/0c0650c48b962ab40176cdf7ddf96383\"},\"headline\":\"The Gift of Peace\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-12-15T17:48:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peacealliance.org\/the-gift-of-peace\/\"},\"wordCount\":585,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peacealliance.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peacealliance.org\/the-gift-of-peace\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/peacealliance.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/logo_main.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Homepage\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/peacealliance.org\/the-gift-of-peace\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peacealliance.org\/the-gift-of-peace\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/peacealliance.org\/the-gift-of-peace\/\",\"name\":\"The Gift of Peace - 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