Sparta resident to present Peace Award
SPARTA Litsa Binder, a resident of Sparta, will present the Sylvia and Oscar Ackelsberg Peace Award at the NJ Peace Action’s Annual Dinner. It will be given to a partnership of interfaith and secular organizations called the August 9 Saving Lives Task Force. The Task Force’s goals are to educate and organize for nuclear disarmament. Phil Donahue, the Emmy Award-winning media personality, writer and film producer, will speak about his film “Body of War” at the dinner on Sunday, April 25. Donahue will receive The Dorothy Eldridge Peacemaker Award. Litsa Binder, Co-Chair of the Church and Society Committee at the Sparta United Methodist Church and Founder of the Northwest N.J. Peace Fellowship is a long-time peace activist who has worked for nuclear disarmament for many years. “I am honored to present the Sylvia and Oscar Ackelsberg Peace Award to the August 9th Saving Lives Task Force,” said Binder. “The Task Force is a group of dedicated ordinary citizens and organizations who came together two years ago with one goal in mind: to educate and advocate for the elimination of nuclear weapons and to use the trillions of dollars saved to feed, provide shelter and health care to people who are hurting around the world.” Donahue Executive produced “Body of War” a documentary about 25-year-old Iraq War Veteran, Tomas Young, who was paralyzed by a bullet to his spine during his first week of service in Iraq. The film chronicles Tomas’ copings with disability and well as the development of his passionate voice against the war. “We are very pleased to be bringing such a high caliber voice for peace into our dedicated community of local activists,” said Madelyn Hoffman, Executive Director of NJ Peace Action. “I feel that this year’s Annual Dinner will help foster a peace movement that is blind to the separating force of social status. By coupling a voice of Mr. Donahue’s caliber with the many local figures dedicated to a more peaceful world, we can collectively begin to move away from a planet gripped by war, toward a world of peaceful camaraderie, a safer world for all of our children and grandchildren to come.” For more information Madelyn Hoffman, Executive Director of NJ Peace Action, 973- 259-1126.