2023 Annual Peace Conference
WHEN: November 4, 2023
WHERE: Aldersgate United Methodist Church, 8320 South St, Lincoln, NE
from 10am to 2 pm
WHAT: NEBRASKA SENATE PANEL SPEAKS ON PEACE & JUSTICE- Sen. Danielle Conrad, Sen. Tony Vargas, Sen. Terrell McKinney and Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh
AWARDS: Mena and Dave Sprague & Jason WItmer
WORKSHOPS: Social Justice: An “Aging” Population: From Juvenile to Emerging Adult in the Justice System;
Anti-War: Making Friends with Conflict; Environment: Engaging With Your Public Power
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE BROCHURE
WHEN: November 4, 2023
WHERE: Aldersgate United Methodist Church, 8320 South St, Lincoln, NE
from 10am to 2 pm
WHAT: NEBRASKA SENATE PANEL SPEAKS ON PEACE & JUSTICE- Sen. Danielle Conrad, Sen. Tony Vargas, Sen. Terrell McKinney and Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh
AWARDS: Mena and Dave Sprague & Jason WItmer
WORKSHOPS: Social Justice: An “Aging” Population: From Juvenile to Emerging Adult in the Justice System;
Anti-War: Making Friends with Conflict; Environment: Engaging With Your Public Power
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE BROCHURE
Upcoming Events at Creighton University
WHAT: Dr. Rebecca Erbelding
WHEN: Tuesday, October 17 at 7:00 p.m.
WHERE: Mike and Josie Harper Center, Hixson-Lied Auditorium, on the Creighton Campus,
20th and California St, Omaha, NE
On Tuesday, October 17, at 7:00 p.m. in the Hixson-Lied Auditorium in the Mike and Josie Harper Center, 20th and California Streets, Dr. Rebecca Erbelding, a historian working at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, in Washington, D. C., and the author of Rescue Board: The Untold Story of America’s Efforts to Save the Jews of Europe (2019), will deliver the lecture “Creighton Graduate John Pehle and His Work to Save Jews During the Holocaust.” Creighton University awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters posthumously to John Pehle, who was a graduate of Omaha Central High School and Creighton University. Dr. Erbelding will sign books in the atrium after the lecture.
WHAT: Kathleen Osberger
WHEN: November 2, 2023 at 7:00 p.m.
WHERE: Mike and Josie Harper Center, Room 2057/2058, on the Creighton Campus,
20th and California St, Omaha, NE
Monday, September 11, 2023, was the 50th anniversary of the military coup in Chile that ended in the death of Salvador Allende and the rise to power of General Augusto Pinochet. Kathleen Osberger was a recent graduate of the University of Notre Dame (she was in the first class that admitted women) when she went to Santiago, Chile, in 1975, during the repression imposed on Chile by the Pinochet regime. She has just published a memoir of her time in Chile, I Surrender: A Memoir of Chile’s Dictatorship, 1975 (Orbis Books, 2023). Kathleen Osberger will speak at 7:00 p.m., November 2, in rooms 2057/2058 (combined) in the Mike and Josie Harper Center at 20th and California Streets, on the Creighton campus.
WHAT: Dr. Rebecca Erbelding
WHEN: Tuesday, October 17 at 7:00 p.m.
WHERE: Mike and Josie Harper Center, Hixson-Lied Auditorium, on the Creighton Campus,
20th and California St, Omaha, NE
On Tuesday, October 17, at 7:00 p.m. in the Hixson-Lied Auditorium in the Mike and Josie Harper Center, 20th and California Streets, Dr. Rebecca Erbelding, a historian working at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, in Washington, D. C., and the author of Rescue Board: The Untold Story of America’s Efforts to Save the Jews of Europe (2019), will deliver the lecture “Creighton Graduate John Pehle and His Work to Save Jews During the Holocaust.” Creighton University awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters posthumously to John Pehle, who was a graduate of Omaha Central High School and Creighton University. Dr. Erbelding will sign books in the atrium after the lecture.
WHAT: Kathleen Osberger
WHEN: November 2, 2023 at 7:00 p.m.
WHERE: Mike and Josie Harper Center, Room 2057/2058, on the Creighton Campus,
20th and California St, Omaha, NE
Monday, September 11, 2023, was the 50th anniversary of the military coup in Chile that ended in the death of Salvador Allende and the rise to power of General Augusto Pinochet. Kathleen Osberger was a recent graduate of the University of Notre Dame (she was in the first class that admitted women) when she went to Santiago, Chile, in 1975, during the repression imposed on Chile by the Pinochet regime. She has just published a memoir of her time in Chile, I Surrender: A Memoir of Chile’s Dictatorship, 1975 (Orbis Books, 2023). Kathleen Osberger will speak at 7:00 p.m., November 2, in rooms 2057/2058 (combined) in the Mike and Josie Harper Center at 20th and California Streets, on the Creighton campus.
Healing the Trauma of the Legacy of War
40th Annual Lantern Float
40th Annual Lantern Float
When: Saturday, August 12, 2023, from 5:30pm - 8:30pm
Where: Northeast Side of Holmes Lake Park near in Lincoln, NE
Please join Nebraskans for Peace and the Unitarian Church for the 2023 in-person Lantern Float. We hold this event to remember the lives lost 78 years ago in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan on August 6th and 9th in 1945.
We hope you will join us for the full in-person event this year. We invite guests to join us at 5:30pm for in-person lantern making for the first time in 3 years during which Michael Murphy will bless the crowd with songs of peace. Nebraskans for Peace will provide all the supplies for creating lanterns. Our main speakers will begin at 6:30pm, after which guests will float their lanterns on Holmes Lake.
We will gather to discuss the invisible and heartbreaking costs of war: intergenerational traumas, the environmental impacts, unacknowledged PTSD, and the impacts of war on immigrant communities. Our featured speakers will discuss these traumas and how we can all heal.
Featured Speakers:
Dr. Anh Le- is a Vietnamese immigrant and the founder of TRUE HOME NOW COACHING, a life coaching service with an emphasis on holistic wellbeing, mindful living, and community building. She earned her Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Higher Education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2014 and integrated years of experience working in higher education as teacher, coach, advisor, and mentor for college students and professionals into her coaching.
Dr. Le is also a certified life coach and parenting educator. Through her life coaching, educational workshops/courses, and speaking engagements, she aspires to facilitate the healing and empowerment of individuals and communities in major life transformations and transitions. She specializes in mindful practices, inclusive mindsets, and holistic approaches to parenting and living. Her signature method is the Mindful Authentic Positive (MAP) Living program for holistic wellbeing.
Cheri Stollar- is a mental health therapist at Blue Valley Behavioral Health. She graduated from Doane University in January 2021, and she has a bachelor’s degree in social work from Nebraska Wesleyan University. Cheri has worked in the Human Services field all of her adult life. She has worked with the elderly, children, trauma survivors, people with substance use disorders, and people with disabilities. Cheri is passionate about understanding the impact of trauma on a person developmentally, emotionally, physically, and psychologically. Most of the therapeutic work she does with people in our community is addressing and treating their trauma which is the root cause of many mental health and substance use disorders. Cheri has experienced a lot of her own trauma during childhood and adulthood and is utilizing her spirituality to heal from these traumas.
Where: Northeast Side of Holmes Lake Park near in Lincoln, NE
Please join Nebraskans for Peace and the Unitarian Church for the 2023 in-person Lantern Float. We hold this event to remember the lives lost 78 years ago in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan on August 6th and 9th in 1945.
We hope you will join us for the full in-person event this year. We invite guests to join us at 5:30pm for in-person lantern making for the first time in 3 years during which Michael Murphy will bless the crowd with songs of peace. Nebraskans for Peace will provide all the supplies for creating lanterns. Our main speakers will begin at 6:30pm, after which guests will float their lanterns on Holmes Lake.
We will gather to discuss the invisible and heartbreaking costs of war: intergenerational traumas, the environmental impacts, unacknowledged PTSD, and the impacts of war on immigrant communities. Our featured speakers will discuss these traumas and how we can all heal.
Featured Speakers:
Dr. Anh Le- is a Vietnamese immigrant and the founder of TRUE HOME NOW COACHING, a life coaching service with an emphasis on holistic wellbeing, mindful living, and community building. She earned her Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Higher Education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2014 and integrated years of experience working in higher education as teacher, coach, advisor, and mentor for college students and professionals into her coaching.
Dr. Le is also a certified life coach and parenting educator. Through her life coaching, educational workshops/courses, and speaking engagements, she aspires to facilitate the healing and empowerment of individuals and communities in major life transformations and transitions. She specializes in mindful practices, inclusive mindsets, and holistic approaches to parenting and living. Her signature method is the Mindful Authentic Positive (MAP) Living program for holistic wellbeing.
Cheri Stollar- is a mental health therapist at Blue Valley Behavioral Health. She graduated from Doane University in January 2021, and she has a bachelor’s degree in social work from Nebraska Wesleyan University. Cheri has worked in the Human Services field all of her adult life. She has worked with the elderly, children, trauma survivors, people with substance use disorders, and people with disabilities. Cheri is passionate about understanding the impact of trauma on a person developmentally, emotionally, physically, and psychologically. Most of the therapeutic work she does with people in our community is addressing and treating their trauma which is the root cause of many mental health and substance use disorders. Cheri has experienced a lot of her own trauma during childhood and adulthood and is utilizing her spirituality to heal from these traumas.
2022 ANNUAL PEACE CONFERENCE
SEPTEMBER 24, 2022 FROM 10 AM TO 3 PM
Like the past few years, the 2022 Annual Peace Conference will be held virtually. This gives us a unique opportunity to have some the biggest speakers in the history of the APC without the climate impacts of plane travel. This also means you can view the Conference live or any time after because it will be available on our Social Media platforms forever. We hope you will join us!
This year we are excited to announce that our keynotes will be CODEPINK Co-Founder and world-renowned Peace Activist, Media Benjamin and Co-Director of CODEPINK, Danaka Katovich. Their presentation is titled “Working for Peace Across Generations: How to get young people involved in the Peace Movement.” These two women cross generational lines and will give a keynote on bridging that generational gap while building a Peace Movement and engaging young Peace Activists.
We will also feature three workshops this year. Steve Morse from Veterans for Peace will give a workshop called “The Climate Crisis and Militarism.” Our very own Board Member Luisa Paloma-Hare and Nebraska teacher will lead a workshop titled “Education as a Tool for Social Justice.” And we will be joined by Michael Kelly from Creighton Law School for the workshop on “The Role of International Law in the Russia-Ukraine War.”
You can watch the conference on our Facebook page found HERE:
https://www.facebook.com/NebraskansforPeace
Or on our YouTUbe channel found HERE:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChBw6W--I52s5II_BH_qEwg
News Conference to Address the Need to Reduce Gun Violence & Connection to Our Bloated Military Budget
When: Monday June 20, 2022 at 10:00 a.m.
Where: On the sidewalk, 1/2 block south of the Southeast corner of 16th and California Streets, Omaha, Nebraska. We will be meeting right by the NFP Billboard!
Nebraskans for Peace is holding a news conference to talk about the gun violence in this country and how it could be reduced by redirecting some of our bloated taxpayer funding of the Pentagon to address our own domestic issues like gun control, health care and safe and equitable access to education.
We promised ourselves in the Declaration of Independence that all our citizens are entitled to inalienable rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” However, we spend so much on guns to fight foreign battles, often ones that protect only corporate economic interests, that we cannot provide for our own security at home. The American military exists, ostensibly, to provide security. However, the greatest threat to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” for American citizens does not presently come from foreign military.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, we lose approximately 45,000 citizens annually to gun violence, more than six times as many as we have lost in war since 2001. That is over 2,100 every year. We lose hundreds of citizens, children and adults, to mass shootings each year.
Domestic violence, particularly that by white supremacists, is considered one of the country’s main security threats. Yet, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the United States spent $801 billion on the military in 2021. In 2020 Congress allocated $25 million each year to study domestic gun safety, split between the CDC and National Institutes of Health. We have a desperate need to address issues at home in order to create and promote peace.
The Watson Institute has determined that slightly over 7,000 American servicemen were killed in battle since 9/11, 2001, surely 7,000 too many. That number is small when compared to the Americans killed on US soil by other Americans.
Nebraskans for Peace urges everyone to contact their members of Congress to ask them to decrease the bloated military budget and reinvest that money at home to reduce the killings by guns in this country.
Speakers for our event include:
Renee Sans Souci, a Native Umonhon woman, will provide a Land Acknowledgement. Renee has a degree in education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She combines her life experiences teaching students to engage in their own cultural identities and languages. Renee is a Cultural Consultant and Teaching Artist. She has presented at numerous conferences and workshops on various topics related to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People #MMIWG2S, Native Science, History of Indian Education, Native languages, Poetry, and Sustainability.
Carol Windrum, a retired United Methodist Minister, will provide a faith message. Carol founded the Peace with Justice Ministries for the Nebraska Conference of the United Methodist Church in 1983. For four decades she has spoken about and advocated for the role of people of faith to be involved in seeking the common good through civic engagement.
Ron Todd-Meyer, the current Board President of Nebraskans for Peace, will speak about the bloated military budget and its repercussions. Ron is a U.S. Marine Corp Vietnam veteran [26th Marines, 1967] and a retired farmer from southern Nebraska. Ron volunteers as a board member of the Nebraska Farmers Union Foundation.
Bill Laird, a Nebraskans for Peace Board Member since 2007 and the current Treasurer, Bill taught Peace and Justice high school curriculum based on Papal encyclicals of the Catholic Church for 39 years.
JaQuala Yarbro is the founder of a community-based organization, Complete Institute of Socioeconomic Policy and Education in North Omaha. JaQuala founded the institute to lead the eradication of racial disparities experienced by people of color by rewriting evidenced based practices from community perspectives. JaQuala works throughout multiple counties in Nebraska to promote equity among those most proximal to disparities. JaQuala works as a liaison between system partners and communities to develop approaches that promote well being.
Luisa Palomo Hare who has provided a statement for the press conference, is a Buffett Award of Excellence honoree, as well as the 2012 Nebraska Teacher of the Year. Luisa lives in Omaha where she has been a teacher in a high-poverty school for 18 years. Luisa's passion for social justice began when she worked as a summer aide in her hometown of Gering, Nebraska's summer school for migrant children. Luisa attended Creighton University, lived in a developing country before returning to Omaha and worked in a local homeless shelter. Luisa is a strong advocate for others and has a deep understanding of marginalized people.
Citizens' Climate Lobby (CCL) - Omaha Chapter Monthly
WHEN: Meetings are all virtual and vary from local chapters, statewide, regional and national meetings. Everyone is welcome to attend all of our meetings - free of charge. If you are new to CCL or want to talk about how to stop climate change from getting much worse, please call 402-453-0776 to reach Mark Welsch, NFP Omaha Coordinator and Citizens' Climate Lobby-Omaha Chapter Co-Leader.
Peace Vigils Monthly in Grand Island
Until further notice, contact Del Roper at (308) 384-3266 for information on when vigils are happening.• Aug. 12 – Seward, Concordia University, Janzow Campus Center, Cattle Conference Room, 800 N. Columbia Ave.
• Aug. 16 – North Platte, Mid-Plains Community College. Room 202 and 204, 1101 Halligan Dr.
• Aug. 17- Scottsbluff, Western Nebraska Community College, Harms Center Plex, 601 East 28th St.
• Aug. 18- Kearney, Holiday Inn, Ballroom II, 110 Second Ave.
SEPTEMBER 24, 2022 FROM 10 AM TO 3 PM
Like the past few years, the 2022 Annual Peace Conference will be held virtually. This gives us a unique opportunity to have some the biggest speakers in the history of the APC without the climate impacts of plane travel. This also means you can view the Conference live or any time after because it will be available on our Social Media platforms forever. We hope you will join us!
This year we are excited to announce that our keynotes will be CODEPINK Co-Founder and world-renowned Peace Activist, Media Benjamin and Co-Director of CODEPINK, Danaka Katovich. Their presentation is titled “Working for Peace Across Generations: How to get young people involved in the Peace Movement.” These two women cross generational lines and will give a keynote on bridging that generational gap while building a Peace Movement and engaging young Peace Activists.
We will also feature three workshops this year. Steve Morse from Veterans for Peace will give a workshop called “The Climate Crisis and Militarism.” Our very own Board Member Luisa Paloma-Hare and Nebraska teacher will lead a workshop titled “Education as a Tool for Social Justice.” And we will be joined by Michael Kelly from Creighton Law School for the workshop on “The Role of International Law in the Russia-Ukraine War.”
You can watch the conference on our Facebook page found HERE:
https://www.facebook.com/NebraskansforPeace
Or on our YouTUbe channel found HERE:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChBw6W--I52s5II_BH_qEwg
News Conference to Address the Need to Reduce Gun Violence & Connection to Our Bloated Military Budget
When: Monday June 20, 2022 at 10:00 a.m.
Where: On the sidewalk, 1/2 block south of the Southeast corner of 16th and California Streets, Omaha, Nebraska. We will be meeting right by the NFP Billboard!
Nebraskans for Peace is holding a news conference to talk about the gun violence in this country and how it could be reduced by redirecting some of our bloated taxpayer funding of the Pentagon to address our own domestic issues like gun control, health care and safe and equitable access to education.
We promised ourselves in the Declaration of Independence that all our citizens are entitled to inalienable rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” However, we spend so much on guns to fight foreign battles, often ones that protect only corporate economic interests, that we cannot provide for our own security at home. The American military exists, ostensibly, to provide security. However, the greatest threat to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” for American citizens does not presently come from foreign military.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, we lose approximately 45,000 citizens annually to gun violence, more than six times as many as we have lost in war since 2001. That is over 2,100 every year. We lose hundreds of citizens, children and adults, to mass shootings each year.
Domestic violence, particularly that by white supremacists, is considered one of the country’s main security threats. Yet, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the United States spent $801 billion on the military in 2021. In 2020 Congress allocated $25 million each year to study domestic gun safety, split between the CDC and National Institutes of Health. We have a desperate need to address issues at home in order to create and promote peace.
The Watson Institute has determined that slightly over 7,000 American servicemen were killed in battle since 9/11, 2001, surely 7,000 too many. That number is small when compared to the Americans killed on US soil by other Americans.
Nebraskans for Peace urges everyone to contact their members of Congress to ask them to decrease the bloated military budget and reinvest that money at home to reduce the killings by guns in this country.
Speakers for our event include:
Renee Sans Souci, a Native Umonhon woman, will provide a Land Acknowledgement. Renee has a degree in education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She combines her life experiences teaching students to engage in their own cultural identities and languages. Renee is a Cultural Consultant and Teaching Artist. She has presented at numerous conferences and workshops on various topics related to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People #MMIWG2S, Native Science, History of Indian Education, Native languages, Poetry, and Sustainability.
Carol Windrum, a retired United Methodist Minister, will provide a faith message. Carol founded the Peace with Justice Ministries for the Nebraska Conference of the United Methodist Church in 1983. For four decades she has spoken about and advocated for the role of people of faith to be involved in seeking the common good through civic engagement.
Ron Todd-Meyer, the current Board President of Nebraskans for Peace, will speak about the bloated military budget and its repercussions. Ron is a U.S. Marine Corp Vietnam veteran [26th Marines, 1967] and a retired farmer from southern Nebraska. Ron volunteers as a board member of the Nebraska Farmers Union Foundation.
Bill Laird, a Nebraskans for Peace Board Member since 2007 and the current Treasurer, Bill taught Peace and Justice high school curriculum based on Papal encyclicals of the Catholic Church for 39 years.
JaQuala Yarbro is the founder of a community-based organization, Complete Institute of Socioeconomic Policy and Education in North Omaha. JaQuala founded the institute to lead the eradication of racial disparities experienced by people of color by rewriting evidenced based practices from community perspectives. JaQuala works throughout multiple counties in Nebraska to promote equity among those most proximal to disparities. JaQuala works as a liaison between system partners and communities to develop approaches that promote well being.
Luisa Palomo Hare who has provided a statement for the press conference, is a Buffett Award of Excellence honoree, as well as the 2012 Nebraska Teacher of the Year. Luisa lives in Omaha where she has been a teacher in a high-poverty school for 18 years. Luisa's passion for social justice began when she worked as a summer aide in her hometown of Gering, Nebraska's summer school for migrant children. Luisa attended Creighton University, lived in a developing country before returning to Omaha and worked in a local homeless shelter. Luisa is a strong advocate for others and has a deep understanding of marginalized people.
Citizens' Climate Lobby (CCL) - Omaha Chapter Monthly
WHEN: Meetings are all virtual and vary from local chapters, statewide, regional and national meetings. Everyone is welcome to attend all of our meetings - free of charge. If you are new to CCL or want to talk about how to stop climate change from getting much worse, please call 402-453-0776 to reach Mark Welsch, NFP Omaha Coordinator and Citizens' Climate Lobby-Omaha Chapter Co-Leader.
Peace Vigils Monthly in Grand Island
Until further notice, contact Del Roper at (308) 384-3266 for information on when vigils are happening.• Aug. 12 – Seward, Concordia University, Janzow Campus Center, Cattle Conference Room, 800 N. Columbia Ave.
• Aug. 16 – North Platte, Mid-Plains Community College. Room 202 and 204, 1101 Halligan Dr.
• Aug. 17- Scottsbluff, Western Nebraska Community College, Harms Center Plex, 601 East 28th St.
• Aug. 18- Kearney, Holiday Inn, Ballroom II, 110 Second Ave.
