FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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For more information contact:
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Estelle Carol
Phone: 708-386-7197
Email: contact@opctj.org
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OPCTJ Wins the first annual Chicago Peace Organizing Excellence Award
OPCTJ
The award was created to recognize a Chicago-area community organization that has demonstrated outstanding service, leadership and dedication to the Chicago area peace community.
May 10, 2004 - Chicago - The Oak Park Coalition for Truth & Justice (OPCTJ) was awarded the first annual Chicago Peace Organizing Excellence Award at an event hosted by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) honoring peace activists. The award was the result of nominations from members of the Chicago-area peace-building community. Estelle Carol, one of the founders of OPCTJ, and Kevin McDermott, its leading spokesperson, accepted the award for the group.
“This award was created to recognize a Chicago-area community organization that has demonstrated outstanding service, leadership and dedication to the Chicago area peace community. We have admired OPCTJ's deep commitment to issues of social conscience and its creative and multifaceted activism,” said Michael McConnell, director of AFSC’s Chicago office.
“Given the number of truly dedicated peace groups and individuals in the Chicago area, I am amazed that our relatively small group has been recognized in this manner,” said Kevin McDermott. “We are grateful to the many volunteers who have helped us achieve this recognition.”
The award was given at the first annual Chicago Peace Jubilee Thursday, May 13, 2004 from 6:30 to 10:30 pm at the Catalyst Ranch in downtown Chicago. The Jubilee’s honorary hosts, Kathy Kelly of Voices in the Wilderness, and Methodist Bishop C. Joseph Sprague, are also being recognized at the event.
Oak Park Coalition for Truth and Justice is a group of citizens from Oak Park and the surrounding near-west suburbs of Chicago who gathered in 2001 in response to the attacks of September 11th and the nation's mobilization for war. They meet in an effort to promote awareness of events, explore humanitarian alternatives to war, protect civil liberties, and empower dissent.
The American Friends Service Committee carries out service, development, social justice, and peace programs throughout the world. Founded by Quakers in 1917 to provide conscientious objectors with an opportunity to aid civilian war victims, AFSC's work attracts the support and partnership of people of many races, religions, and cultures. AFSC’s Chicago office has been the leading peace organization in the Chicago-land area for over fifty years.
The original document or additional information can be found at:
http://www.opctj.org.
