Friends, members and peace and justice activists crowded into the beautiful hall of Brooklyn’s Historic Plymouth Church to celebrate the 2019 PathMakers to Peace. Brooklyn For Peace’s annual gala honors individuals and organizations who have played a leadership role in working to find nonviolent resolutions to conflict. The 2019 PathMakers to Peace are:
Zephyr Teachout for her progressive positions and voice on social and economic justice issues
Ray Acheson for her leadership as Director of Reaching Critical Will, and for her indispensable work on the United Nations Treaty to ban nuclear weapons
Jim Anderson for his leadership as President of Peace Action New York State, and for his lifelong commitment to peace and social justice
Left to right: Charlotte Phillips, MD, BFP Chair; Veronica Nunn, Vice-Chair; Emilie Beck, Program Coordinator; Honoree: Ray Acheson, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom; Honoree: Zephyr Teachout, author, activist, professor and former candidate for NY Governor; Honoree: Jim Anderson Peace Action NYS President; and Tara Currie, BFPer.
The guests enjoyed a delicious buffet supplied by Bassett Caterers and listened with great attention as each honoree addressed the gathering. Thank you to everyone who attended, contributed, sponsored, advertised or otherwise supported the 2019 PathMakers to Peace Gala. We appreciate your continued support, energy, and generosity.
A special thank you to Matt Weinstein for the beautiful photos, Annie Yan for video recording the Gala (available now on our Youtube channel), and to Christine Lewis of Domestic Workers United for her uplifting vocal performance. Our gratitude goes to Veronica Nunn for emceeing, Plymouth Church for hosting us, and to Rev. Brett Younger for his inspiring welcoming remarks. The full PathMakers to Peace program is available online. Please be sure to patron our advertisers !
350 Brooklyn
Allan Eisenberg, PhD
Alliance for Quality Education
Amorina Pizza
Arab American Association of New York
Archer Byington Glennon & Levine
Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon
Assemblymember Robert Carroll
Bassett Caterers
Belli Osteria
Benjamin Moore Go Greene Hardware
BFP Arts and Culture Collective
BFP Climate Action Task Force
BFP Darfur/Africa Task Force
BFP Diversity Outreach Task Force
BFP Israel-Palestine Committee
BFP Latin America Task Force
BFP Nuclear Zero Task Force
BFP Peace & Economic Justice Committee
BFP UNICEF Committee
Black Veterans for Social Justice
Bob Cook, Your PC Guru
Brooklyn Arts Exchange
Brooklyn Commons Cafe
Brooklyn Friends of the People’s World & the Brooklyn Club of the Communist Party, USA
Brooklyn Historical Society
Brooklyn Microgrid
Brooklyn Society For Ethical Culture
Brooklyn Solar Works
Brothers Halal Meat Market
Cafe Chili
Cambridge Dental PC
Camp Kinderland, Inc.
CBID: Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats
Citizen Action of New York
D’Amico Coffee
David Cunningham Architecture Planning
Deadhorse Records
Domestic Workers United
DRUM: Desis Rising Up and Moving
Dwip Bangla Grocery
Fat Tail Financial Advisory Group
Fish Tales
Flatbush Food Cooperative Foodtown
Granny Peace Brigade
Halstead Properties
Heights Chateau
Holyland Auto Repair
Hungry Ghost
Imagic Studio
Jews for Racial and Economic Justice
Ken Diamondstone and Joseph Kopitz
Kitchen
Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives
Mel Grizer and Susie Hoffman
Mohammed Nurhussein, M.D.
Mukti’s Kitchen
Muslim Community Network
National Lawyers Guild [NYC]
Peace Action Bay Ridge
Peace Action New York State
Peace Action of Staten Island
Perelandra Natural Foods
Phillips-Fein Family
Physicians for a National Health Program NY Metro
Ralph’s Bodega
Representative Yvette Clarke
Representative Nydia Velzquez
Rothberg Law Firm
SaveMor Digital Printing
Select Mail and Redhook Star Revue
Staubitz Market
The Indypdendent
The Nation
Theater Three Collaborative
United Community Centers
United For Peace & Justice
United University Professions
U.S. Labor Against the War
Verde Cafe & Lounge
Veris Wealth Partners
Veterans for Peace Chapter 34
Vokashi
Wild Ginger
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
World Can’t Wait
World Fellowship Center
Thank you to all those who joined the PathMakers to Peace 2019 Host Committee!
Monroe and Diane Allison
Bruce Altschuler
Ann Fawcett Ambia
Charlene Barker
George Bartenieff and Karen Malpede
Donald Bickford
Edward Briody
Tara Currie and Mark Parrish
Ken Diamondstone and Joseph Kopitz
Robert Drinan and Kimberly Westcott
Carolyn and Allan Eisenberg
Jaki Florsheim and Henry Florsheim
Tom Gogan and Gloria Brandman
Ed Goldman and Deirdre Jordan
Mel Grizer and Susie Hoffman
Georgia Guida
Susan Johnson
Sally Jones and David Jones
Lucy Koteen and Alan Young
May Makki and Omar Makki
Ellen Meyers
Fran Minichiello
Mary Nolan and Ervand Abrahamian
Jean Nolan
Veronica Nunn and Travis Shook
Mohammed Nurhussein
Charlotte Phillips and Oliver Fein
Eleanor Preiss and Mitchell Cohn
Eric Shtob and Sonia Collins
Matthew Weinstein and Stacey Weinstein
Barbara Winslow
Support Brooklyn For Peace: Our LOCAL Peace and Justice Group
Push Back the Right-Wing Assault: Support Brooklyn For Peace! Please make a tax-deductible donation now! Brooklyn For Peace needs YOUR support to strengthen our voice and our efforts in building a broad-based resistance movement in the coming year. Donations made on-line or postmarked before midnight on Dec 31 are tax-deductible in 2018.
Brooklyn For Peaceis locally-based, rooted in Brooklyn neighborhoods. We are multi-issue, non-sectarian, and non-partisan. Our distinctive contribution is speaking out against war, and emphasizing the pervasive influence of militarism throughout our society. We collaborate with a range of single-issue groups. We link the issues through the lens of a foreign policy which relies on military power to address problems. Our track-record since 1984 of educational programs leading to informed action has made our voice a respected one.
The multitude of crises which confront us daily, from the danger of nuclear war, to the reality of climate catastrophe, to the heart-wrenching images of immigrant families and children, can easily lead to paralyzing despair. We counteract hopelessness with opportunities for action. See below for some of our activities in 2018.
Without funds we can’t do the work! Please donate now if you have not already done so. If you have already donated in 2018, please accept our thanks and consider an additional end-of-year donation so that we can expand our outreach and our voice in 2019. And please join us in 2019 in building the movement for peace with justice!
Charlotte Phillips, M.D. Chairperson for the BFP Board We are a 501 c 3 organization. All donations made on-line or postmarked before midnight Dec 31, 2018, are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
A Light For Peace Shone Bright In Brooklyn Pathmakers To Peace Gala, 2018.
Dec 6, 2018—
It was an evening to remember.
Friends and supporters of Brooklyn For Peace filed into Brooklyn’s historic Plymouth Church to enjoy a festive evening of good food and drink. But also to mingle with old friends and meet new ones. They came to support the 34-year old peace and justice organization and to be the wind behind its sails as it continues to meet the challenges of these difficult times.
Co-founders Rusti Eisenberg, Dr. Charlotte Phillips & PathMakers recipient Dr. Liz Leoharris.
After a delicious and plentiful buffet, the event began with a warm welcom by the church’s spiritual leader, Rev. Brett Younger. This year the group honored leading Pathmakers To Peace as it has done in years past. But before, we welcomed special guests who arrived unannounced but who were enthusiastically welcomed as champions in Congress against the Trump agenda. Both Congress members Yvette Clarke and Nydia Velázquez rose and delivered passionate remarks, pledging to stand firm on behalf of peace and to defend immigrants and refugees from the cruel policies of the Trump Administration. They spoke of the difficult battles ahead but also pointed out that the newly-elected majority in the House, with its numerous new women members, would make their ability to fight back more effective. The presence of these two important Brooklyn Congress members was a tribute, many felt, to Brooklyn For Peace’s status as a long-standing and effective voice for peace and progress in our Brooklyn communities.
This year’s honorees were— Make The Road, New York – a true champion that serves and protects immigrants and refugees with a focus on Latinos who are facing attacks from the Trump policies. The award was accepted by Chloe Tribich who spoke on their behalf.
Next was Rebecca Wilkomerson, the Chair of Jewish Voice For Peace, an outstanding organization that has grown exponentially in recent years, filling its ranks with newly-active youth, particularly young Jews. They stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine in demanding a just and fair peace in the Mid East and reject the idea that being Jewish is synonymous with supporting the extremist and anti-human policies of Netanyahu and his government.
The last honoree was Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, Co-Chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, which, in a fitting reprise of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 1968 movement, has launched a movement for a “moral revival” in our country, demanding the shifting of priorities away from greed and war and toward meeting the urgent needs of the American people, particularly those who suffer the injustice and degradation of endemic poverty. Theoharris made a moving speech that wove together all the themes of the various struggles taking place in today’s difficult period.
Many thought that this event was one of the finest and most uplifting the organization has sponsored over the years. The feelings of camaraderie and solidarity in a festive atmosphere of bonhomie, lifted people’s spirits and determination to continue the fight for a better country and world. Onwards!
To view all the photos of the event, click HERE. To view video of the program, click HERE To view the PathMakers to Peace 2018 Program, click HERE.