As Priscilla Weddle, OEP’s Children’s Peace Formation Coordinator, finds herself at the end of her year-long internship, she would like to take a moment to look back at her work with OEP. Known for the #ReadAloud program, Priscilla has worked tirelessly on what has become a major part of OEP’s identity during the 2020 pandemic. 

On Earth Peace has been working with peace and justice leaders for 45 years, but our roots go back more than 300 years in the historic peace church that birthed our movement and community.

We have started collecting the stories of dozens of leaders OEP has helped in each generation, and now are excited to begin sharing their work. Hopefully, you will find inspiration in these stories and share them with others.

JustPeace Leaders is a new biweekly email for sharing stories about some of these leaders who have worked with OEP. Because it is new, our team of interns decided to start out with this first edition featuring our executive director Bill Scheurer. (He was easy to get, all we had to do was offer him a sticker from the new JPO online store!)

The Read Aloud Project was created by Priscilla Weddle and Marie Benner-Rhoades to provide homeschooling resources in peace and justice during the pandemic. For January, the project highlighted books about new beginnings. In February, the project will be celebrating Black History Month by reading books about the achievements of Black Americans along with books written by Black authors. If you are interested in recording a video for the project, please email us at [email protected]. Here are the books that were read for the project in January:

A Picture Book of Martin Luther King Jr. by David A. Adler

Summary: This book provides an overview of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and activism. The last page of the book provides important dates.

Reflective Question: If Dr. King were still alive today, what do you think he would be most proud of? What do you think he would be most disappointed in?

Last year, What We Believe: A Black Lives Matter Principles Activity Book by Laleña Garcia and illustrated by Cary Davidson was published. The book aims to teach young children about the guiding principles of the Black Lives Matter Movement as adapted by the Black Lives Matter at NYC Steering Committee. In the book, there are different activities that children can do and pages they can color. On January 20, 2021, I attended a webinar hosted by Lee and Low Books called Black Lives Matter in the Classroom: A Conversation With Experts, where Garcia and Davidson spoke about their book and how the principles of Black Lives Matter can be applied in the classroom.

During this holiday season, you are able to give back every time you use your credit card. Sign up with OEP on RoundUp and support our work for justice and peace. 

Roundup is a service that collects the loose change left over after purchases and makes a gracious donation to the OEP community. Your pennies could help OEP create and run some of our community-favorite events this year.

Learn how it works here: https://roundup.app/p/onearthpeace