nyack

C. Scott Vanderhoef, Rockland County Manager, was the guest of honor and recipient of Nyack College’s 2008 Social Justice Day award last Friday. He was being recognized for his long career of caring efforts for the needs of people of all classes and communities in Rockland County. Given the center seat at the head table, tall and with a strong aura of presence, featured guest, Scott was still humbled and overshadowed by a substitute keynote speaker and the presentation of a token of Rockland County history.

The Festival of Peace is this weekend! If you live in the New York area, we hope you will join us at the Fellowship of Reconciliation's national headquarters in Nyack for this event to celebrate the peace community. Below is detailed information about this weekend's festivities.

No summer is complete without a stretch of rainy days. The earth is thirsty and the sun is bored; a quiet day allows us to focus our attention and energy of open-ended tasks.

This week two extended conference calls within the peace community surfaced an equally sober mood. There is a rather rooted despair at the moment among those seeking to see a way to make a difference in the world. One would have thought that the announced departure of Karl Rove would have lifted spirits. Or the slow but steady migration of opinion in the direction of ending the occupation of Iraq and withdrawing troops. But the more broadly felt impression is that nothing makes a difference with the current administration. And that few Americans really want to be reminded of the challenging mess we have created.

Last week I sent out an e-mail update on our Festival of Peace, coming up in four weeks! Today is the last day to buy an ad in the festival journal, which is a great way to show your support for FOR and our award winners.

Here are some of the festival highlights...

The Fellowship of Reconciliation will be hosting the third annual Festival of Peace on Sunday, September 16th at our national headquarters in Upper Nyack, New York. The popular event, which has attracted 400 residents of the lower Hudson Valley in each of the past two years, will this year crown a four-day stretch of peace-centered activities being coordinated by FOR with other community groups in the region.

For more info, read on or see this press release.