News : CDRC Press Releases
MLK Peacemakers AnnouncedJanuary 15th, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT:
Jeff Lydon, Executive Director
Community Dispute Resolution Center
Phone: 607.273.9347 ext. 206
Fax: 607.275.9225
Email: lydon@cdrc.org
CDRC Presents 2010 Martin Luther King, Jr. Peacemaker Awards
at MLK Community Breakfast
Ithaca, New York, January 16, 2010 – The Community Dispute Resolution Center (CDRC), in partnership with the Greater Ithaca Activities Center (GIAC), has selected the winners of the 2010 Martin Luther King, Jr. Peacemaker Awards.
Walter Hang, President of Toxics Targeting, is the winner of the peacemaker award in the adult category. A long time community leader advocating peacefully for the rights of all people to clean water, Mr. Hang has galvanized the grassroots within Tompkins County for more than a decade, bringing people of all backgrounds together to focus on promoting social justice. His commitment continually reminds the community of how fundamental the environmental cause is to social justice and civil and human rights.
"Walter Hang’s recent work on gas drilling issues in Tompkins County and neighboring communities typifies his commitment to working non-violently for change by employing means that embrace transparency, education, dialogue and persuasion rather than coercion,” said Jeff Lydon, Executive Director of CDRC. “His work continues the great traditions of Gandhi and King, so it is fitting that he receives the Martin Luther King, Jr. Peacemaker Award.”
Quina Weber-Shirk, a student at the Lehman Alternative Community School (LACS), is the winner of the peacemaker award in the youth category. This marks the first year that a youth peacemaker award will be given. Through her volunteer work with young children, Ms. Weber-Shirk has long been devoted to promoting literacy. She’s also volunteered to work with incarcerated teenagers at Louis Gossett, Jr. Residential Center, and was an active participant throughout a recent cross-cultural exchange at the Akwesasne Reservation. Finally, Ms. Weber-Shirk is training to gain certification as a teen mediator with CDRC.
“When a young member of our community becomes a community leader, it inspires all of us and provides an example of community building and peacemaking,” said Travis Brooks, GIAC Program Administrator. “Quina Weber-Shirk is so deserving of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Youth Peacemaker Award because she’s served with such devotion as a real leader in cultural exchange and selfless service.”
The annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Peacemaker Awards, celebrating the life of Dr. King, are given to individuals or organizations who work non-violently for change, who bring people together to resolve differences and/or promote social justice, and whose work benefits the Tompkins County community. The inscriptions on the awards this year borrow from the words of Dr. King and read, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.”
The awards will be formally presented at the annual MLK Community Breakfast, sponsored by GIAC, on January 16th between 9:00 am and 11:30 am at the Beverly J. Martin Elementary School gymnasium.
ABOUT CDRC
The Community Dispute Resolution Center provides mediation and conflict education services throughout Tompkins, Chemung and Schuyler Counties, its purpose to cultivate constructive responses to conflict.
