2023 Frank LaMere Peacemaker Awards
Every year Nebraskans for Peace holds our Annual Peace Conference. At this event we feature main speakers and workshops for attendees. The event also gives us the opportunity to recognize Nebraskans who work for Peace and Justice with Peacemaker of the Year Awards. This year we were honored to give out three Peacemaker of the Year Awards. The 2023 awardees were Jason Witmer and Mena & Dave Sprague.
The persistent work for peace and justice in our society can often be a lonely, seemingly endless and exhausting task. In more populated areas of our state there can be a closer physical connection to like minded people, but in rural areas of Nebraska those working for peace and justice can feel very isolated. Dave and Mena Sprague have never let this stop them in their quest for expressing and fulfilling their desire for a healthy, peaceful planet.
Strong union supporters from their early years working in the airline industry, Dave and Mena Sprague have lived in rural Howard County for many years now and have been, are and will be a voice for peace and justice “come hell or highwater”. Dave and Mena were among the original organizers of the Central Nebraska Peaceworkers group after 9/11 in 2001. Since then the Spragues have continually found and invited new justice oriented people in central Nebraska to join them at the monthly CNPW meeting. Rarely have they missed any of these meetings or the monthly protests held in Grand Island where each month, in all kinds of weather, they and others hold signs that inform those driving by of the issues people need to be aware of. Over the years, honks and thumbs up have begun to outnumber the negative responses to these monthly protests.
Dave and Mena also help organize and sponsor events elsewhere in central Nebraska that raise awareness and calls for justice when injustices are apparent. Immigrant exploitation, LGBTQ discrimination, threats to our land, water and environment and militarism are just a few of the issues that Dave and Mena along with other members of CNPW have brought to the attention of people in rural Nebraska communities.
Dave and Mena are definitely core members of CNPW and have worked diligently and tirelessly to inform greater Nebraska of peace and justice issues. They are well deserving recipients of the 2023 Nebraskans for Peace Frank LaMere Peacemaker Award.
I would like to nominate Jason Witmer for the 2023 Peace Maker of the Year award because of all of the work that Jason does in the community. Jason was incarcerated for 20 years and spent 8 of them in solitary confinement. After he was released, he dedicated his life to helping other impacted people.
He works tirelessly to try and make changes in the criminal justice system and in the prisons, but also works with incarcerated people to help them to change their lives for the better as well.
Currently, Jason sits on the board of the ACLU. He also works with the Reentry Alliance Nebraska (RAN) group which is a group that supports formerly incarcerated individuals to have successful reentry into society. Jason works on the with Stand In For Nebraska (SIFN) on the Community Organizing Leadership Team. Through Jason’s work with Senators, his lobbying efforts and his testimony, he played a key role in the passing of the law called Unlock the Box, to end the use of solitary confinement in prisons.
He worked with the group People Not Prisons, he does public speaking on behalf of human rights for all people. He is a person that can work with people on both sides of the aisle, helping to educate people about the prison system, the needs of people reentering after incarceration and by sharing his story.
Jason works at MHA- NE, a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving and providing alternative programs to those that live with mental health issues and substance abuse. Jason does training to help officers and emergency responders to learn cultural sensitivity and to take a more mental health approach with people instead of a criminalization approach. He works with Bridges of Hope and is part of the Anastasis Theatre which puts on plays both in and out of prisons. He is an excellent photographer and has taken pictures at many events around Lincoln.
The persistent work for peace and justice in our society can often be a lonely, seemingly endless and exhausting task. In more populated areas of our state there can be a closer physical connection to like minded people, but in rural areas of Nebraska those working for peace and justice can feel very isolated. Dave and Mena Sprague have never let this stop them in their quest for expressing and fulfilling their desire for a healthy, peaceful planet.
Strong union supporters from their early years working in the airline industry, Dave and Mena Sprague have lived in rural Howard County for many years now and have been, are and will be a voice for peace and justice “come hell or highwater”. Dave and Mena were among the original organizers of the Central Nebraska Peaceworkers group after 9/11 in 2001. Since then the Spragues have continually found and invited new justice oriented people in central Nebraska to join them at the monthly CNPW meeting. Rarely have they missed any of these meetings or the monthly protests held in Grand Island where each month, in all kinds of weather, they and others hold signs that inform those driving by of the issues people need to be aware of. Over the years, honks and thumbs up have begun to outnumber the negative responses to these monthly protests.
Dave and Mena also help organize and sponsor events elsewhere in central Nebraska that raise awareness and calls for justice when injustices are apparent. Immigrant exploitation, LGBTQ discrimination, threats to our land, water and environment and militarism are just a few of the issues that Dave and Mena along with other members of CNPW have brought to the attention of people in rural Nebraska communities.
Dave and Mena are definitely core members of CNPW and have worked diligently and tirelessly to inform greater Nebraska of peace and justice issues. They are well deserving recipients of the 2023 Nebraskans for Peace Frank LaMere Peacemaker Award.
I would like to nominate Jason Witmer for the 2023 Peace Maker of the Year award because of all of the work that Jason does in the community. Jason was incarcerated for 20 years and spent 8 of them in solitary confinement. After he was released, he dedicated his life to helping other impacted people.
He works tirelessly to try and make changes in the criminal justice system and in the prisons, but also works with incarcerated people to help them to change their lives for the better as well.
Currently, Jason sits on the board of the ACLU. He also works with the Reentry Alliance Nebraska (RAN) group which is a group that supports formerly incarcerated individuals to have successful reentry into society. Jason works on the with Stand In For Nebraska (SIFN) on the Community Organizing Leadership Team. Through Jason’s work with Senators, his lobbying efforts and his testimony, he played a key role in the passing of the law called Unlock the Box, to end the use of solitary confinement in prisons.
He worked with the group People Not Prisons, he does public speaking on behalf of human rights for all people. He is a person that can work with people on both sides of the aisle, helping to educate people about the prison system, the needs of people reentering after incarceration and by sharing his story.
Jason works at MHA- NE, a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving and providing alternative programs to those that live with mental health issues and substance abuse. Jason does training to help officers and emergency responders to learn cultural sensitivity and to take a more mental health approach with people instead of a criminalization approach. He works with Bridges of Hope and is part of the Anastasis Theatre which puts on plays both in and out of prisons. He is an excellent photographer and has taken pictures at many events around Lincoln.
