On Saturday, January 15th 2022 – we held our 13th annual peace awards ceremony virtually, on Zoom. This was a hugely successful event for us and we were ecstatic to be joined by over 70 attendees – including old friends of the Center as well as many new faces. An exciting part of our annual awards ceremony is that it gives us the opportunity to shine a light on the incredible work going on in our area – and create a bridge for the Center to collaborate, support, and leverage our resources/community to help make an impact. We see many avenues of exciting, potential collaboration between us and our awardees this year.
Our Local Hero for Peace was Ady Olvera – an activist/organizer involved with Concord Communities Alliance (CCA). Andy is a fierce activist who consistently organizes spaces for marginalized Concord residents to raise awareness about the issues they are facing. CCA works with the community to advocate for better affordability, livability, sustainability, and resident empowerment for the most vulnerable.
Her keynote address from the evening can be seen below.
Our International Hero for Peace was activist/organizer, Toby Blome. Toby has been organizing for decades against militarization and U.S intervention. Toby works with Ban Killer Drones and as a lead organizer with CodePink has helped to organize some of the largest anti-drone demonstrations of the past few years. In addition to organizing sit-ins and actions – Toby also gives talks on the dangers of our drone program and encourages others to demand our government to cease their usage.
Her keynote address from the evening can be seen below.
In addition to honoring Local Hero for Peace, Ady Olvera – and International Hero for Peace, Toby Blome – the Center also dedicated a portion of the program to celebrating the life of longtime friend of the Center, Fred Norman. Fred was a longtime activist in our community, involved heavily in the Peace Center, Veterans for Peace as well as the Lafayette Hillside Memorial. At the awards – we were joined by close friends and family of Fred who came to honor his legacy. We were also fortunate to have reflections from those close to Fred – Lynn MacMichael, Marti Guy-Downing, Rick Sterling, and Fred’s son – Owen Norman. This portion of the program can be seen in the video below.