Peacemaker and Lifetime Achievement Awards - nominations for 2008 due July 31, 2008
WNPJ Peacemaker of the Year Award
(Here is the 2008 nomination form due July 31, 2008)
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Press Release
August 27, 2007
Contact person: Kathy Dakter, WNPJ committee chair
kdakter@dellsnet.com 608-254-6022 www.wnpj.org
The Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice (WNPJ) Announces Recipients of the 2007 Lifetime Achievement and Peacemaker of the Year Awards.
Peacemakers of the Year 2007
Sarah Quinn - Madison Fr. Jim Murphy – Portage Sue Ruggles - Glendale
sarah@communityconnectionswi.org jmurphy@stmaryoitc.com RugglesS@matc.edu
608-835-4096 608-742-6998 414-352-6846
Lifetime Achievement Award to John LaForge, Luck, WI
nukewatch@lakeland.ws 715-472-4185 or mobile: 715-491-3813
John LaForge of Luck, Sarah Quinn of Madison, Fr. Jim Murphy of Portage, and Sue Ruggles of Glendale have been chosen as the 2007 recipients of WNPJ 's statewide awards, recognizing their leadership and dedication in the fields of anti-nuclear work, prison justice, civil resistance in anti-war campaigns , and immigrant rights advocacy.
The awards will be presented as part of the 17th Annual Fall Assembly of the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, Oct. 6th, 2007 in Racine – at the Olympia Brown Unitarian Universalist Church, 625 College Avenue. The presentation begins at 3:30 pm, followed by a reception. The recipients of the Peacemaker Awards will have the opportunity to talk about what has inspired them along their journey for peace. The public is welcome.
2007 Peacemaker Recipients:
John LaForge John is a native of Duluth, Minnesota - His work for peace and justice is a very full and lengthy one, going back about 30 years. Besides his action at School of Americas last fall, which brought him a six month prison term, he is Editor of Pathfinder, the quarterly newsletter of NUKEWATCH, the grassroots organization working to abolish nuclear weapons and power. Pathfinder continues to be the best nuclear issue-focused newsletter in the country. Also, John is the Co-Director of Nukewatch, founded some 25 years ago by Sam Day, Jr. and Bonnie Urfer. He is also a member of the Anathoth Farm near Luck, WI in northern Wisconsin.
John has been an activist in the non-violent civil resistance movement to militarism, nuclear power, and weapons and has served prisons terms of at least four and half years for various civil disobedience actions over the last years. He was a Plow Shares Activist back in 1979. Besides all this, John is a prolific writer and speaker on issues such as the hazards of depleted uranium or war profiteering. He has been published in The Progressive, Z Magazine, Earth Island Journal, Peace News, Non-violent Activities, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and Pathfinder.
Sarah Quinn – Sarah has been active with an organization called Community Connections since 2002, working as a volunteer at the Oakhill Correctional Facility in Oregon, just south of Madison. This all-volunteer organization provides education, parenting, and literacy services to those incarcerated at Oakhill – and some say Sarah is the “backbone” of this organization, providing hope to those she interacts with. Those who know her are amazed at her energy and commitment to social justice issues. They say Sarah “walks her talk,” and raises the question in all situations – “Is it just for all?” Sarah uses her youthful energy and idealism as she volunteers 10 – 15 hours a week, facilitating a weekly film group, staffing the family resource room for inmates, recruiting and training other volunteers, and serving on the decision-making leadership team of Community Corrections. One of the people incarcerated at Oakhill wrote: “Sarah is a champion to the cause of peace and justice. She shines as a testament to the compassionate human spirit, and brings a new perspective on peace to many of us in here who have never experienced it. Sarah instills hope by opening our eyes to greater possibilities, not only as individuals, but collectively by expanding our sense of community. Her service to the greater good and to the greater understanding of peace is simply amazing and deserves such accolades as this nomination suggests.”
Fr. Jim Murphy – Jim is known to all who meet him as someone who brings out the peacemaker in you – and wherever his work takes him, he energizes those around him to work for justice. Jim started his work here in Wisconsin as a Parish priest in Monona, 25 years ago. During those early years, he was an outspoken proponent of peace and nuclear disarmament. After his move to the Platteville area, he involved the campus and community there is many justice issues – including the annual hunger walk – and a yearly immersion trip for students to the South, building homes. He became a visible and dedicated opponent of the SuperMax prison – and continues this work across the state, a spirited activist on prison reform issues. He recently moved to Portage, and within months of his arrival there he helped reestablish a long dormant social concerns group – and they are now working on a homeless shelter, commemorating the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in the 40’s, and speaking out against the Iraq war. Cassandra Dixon of Mary House says of Jim, “The truly impressive peacemaking that Jim does doesn’t really fit into a list of events. It’s his daily interactions with people from all across the political spectrum. Jim never backs down - he just keeps talking and offering peacemaking as an option.”
Sue Ruggles – Sue has been active in the Milwaukee area, organizing since 2001 within the labor movement to build support for antiwar resolutions and actions. In 2005 and 2007, she coordinated the USLAW “Voices of Iraqi Workers” tour in Milwaukee, bringing together hundreds of labor, peace and community activists. Another ‘bridge’ Sue has been building is joining the peace movement with immigrant rights – with the slogan “Stop the War on Immigrants.” She is actively building coalitions of labor, immigrant rights, and peace groups to advance common goals. As part of this work, she created a photo exhibit for the Wisconsin Reality Tour, 2007, organized by Voces de la Frontera, in support of comprehensive immigration reform.
We hope you will distribute this announcement widely throughout your communities and to press and media in your area. For more information about the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, please see the website www.wnpj.org . If you would like to register for the Fall WNPJ Assembly in Racine, October 6th, contact Judy Miner in the WNPJ office at 608-250-9240 or info@wnpj.org
Previous recipients of the WNPJ Peacemaker of the Year Award include:
2000 2001 2002
Michael Rebholz Dana Churness Angela Rose
Steve Watrous Bonnie Urfer Mike Miles
Jan Provost Everett Refior Lee Brown
2003 2004 2005 2006
Emily Siekierski Bob Poeschl Sarah Santiago/Elise Muldro Xiong Xong
Lynn Larson Gail Vaughn Guy Wolf Janet Parker
June Kjome Tom Arbogast W.C. ‘Andy’ Anderson - Fred Brancel & Del Schwaller
Previous WNPJ Lifetime Achievement Awardees are Sam Day (2000), Clarence Kailin and Frank Zeidler (2002), Jim Missey (2003), Nan Cheney & Midge Miller (2004), Maureen McDonnell, OP(2005), and George Pax Martin (2006).