Day of Peace
What is the International Day of Peace?
The International Day of Peace, established by United Nations resolution in 1981, provides an opportunity for individuals, organizations and nations to create practical acts of Peace on a shared date (September 21). Around the world, the International Day of Peace is used to highlight the U.N. Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World, 2001 to 2010. The International Day of Peace (IDOP) has been celebrated annually at the Peace Plaza in Rockford since 2003,
hosted by the Keeling and Puri families.
How is the Day of Peace celebrated at
the Keeling-Puri Peace Plaza
At the International Day of Peace, 2,000 individuals from the Rock River Valley, including over 1,300 elementary school children learn to:
- Celebrate the cultural heritage of our community
- Understand and appreciate individual differences and similarities
- Become aware of our responsibilities as global citizens to strive for peace in our world
Children, grades three through five, learn about peace through classroom study, music, Peace Day activities and meeting community and global peacemakers.
The Keeling-Puri Peace Plaza and The International Day of Peace
As its mission, the Peace Plaza strives to:
- Promote peace through understanding within our community and our world
- Encourage a sense of personal responsibility in the process of building enduring world peace
- Provide the children and adults of the Rock River Valley with a venue and event to celebrate our community’s rich ethnic heritage
- Promote education about children and adults in other countries; their cultures, beliefs and dreams
- Work in collaboration with community partners
Features at the Peace Plaza:
- 60 languages on six Peace Poles proclaim “May Peace Prevail on Earth”
- 44 flags represent our region’s rich and diverse cultural heritage
- 10 prophets of peace quoted on the granite sculpture base
- 7 sister cities honored in Rockford’s Sister Cities Garden
- One “Harmony Atlas” sculpture by Lee Sido of Northern Illinois University
- Historical timeline of immigration to the Rock River Valley
International Day of Peace Activities
- Promoting peace through education
- Promoting peace through music
- Promoting peace through experiential learning
- Promoting peace by talking with peacemaker role models
Schools receive books about peace for their classroom or library, curriculum support and passport holders for each child to participate in Day of Peace activities at the Peace Plaza.
One Drum Multicultural Music Ensemble (with music roots of Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, the Caribbean and the Americas) engages children during the week prior to the Day of Peace. One Drum emcees the Day of Peace, with interactive dancing, drumming, and singing. Schools are also encouraged to prepare songs, or dances to perform at the Day of Peace. This is funded in part by the Illinois Arts Council.
Hands-on activities have included flying giant peace doves, making “whirled peace” pinwheels, learning about the “power of the penny” and writing messages of peace on prayer flags.
Two recent special guests have included: Greg Mortenson (author of Three Cups of Tea and founder of the Central Asia Institute and Pennies for Peace); and “Jane Addams” (1931 Nobel Peace Prize winner and graduate of Rockford College).
Other Day of Peace Community Activities
The Rock River Valley community raised over $81,000 for Greg Mortenson’s Pennies for Peace Foundation to build and endow a school for the children of a village in remote Pakistan or Afghanistan. Our community’s involvement, spearheaded by the children, expanded to 50,000 donors and included most of our schools, as well as area businesses and individuals.
“This project captured the hearts of our children and community. In addition to the lessons of philanthropy and personal responsibility, the Pennies for Peace effort was a gift to ourselves, reminding us of the value of education for everyone in the world as a tool to peace, understanding and success in the future” said Jim Keeling, co-founder of the Keeling-Puri Peace Plaza.
At Peace Plaza,
One World
Comes Together.
May Peace Prevail on Earth