2023 GTPP Laureate Banquet

On behalf of the GTPP Board of Directors, we wish to thank you one and all who participated in and supported the 2023 Greater Tacoma Peace Prize Laureate Banquet for Maralise Hood-Quan.  She is an amazing recipient for us and the evening was just fantastic!  The silent auction was fabulous and the musical entertainment, Kareen Kandi, was exceptional.  We wanted to share a few candid photos from the evening and hope you enjoy them.  If you are inspired, please send us your email and you will be notified of upcoming Peace in Action projects as well as our 2024 Nomination period and future Laureate Banquet.  Again, our thanks to each of you! 
 

Click on the photos below to view the full-size images.

If you want a high resolution version of any of the photos above, email cort@tacomapeaceprize.org and we’ll email them to you.



2011 Laurate, Dr. Donald Mott, has died

2011 Laurate, Dr. Donald Mott, has died
 
It is with deep sadness that we report on the February 16, 2023, passing of our friend, colleague and 2011 GTPP Laureate, Dr. Donald Mott. 
 
In 2002, Dr. Mott, a retired pediatrician and orthopedic surgeon, was instrumental in the founding of China Partners Network. CPN is a group of physicians, therapists, and professionals working in under-served regions of China to meet the medical needs of children with cerebral palsy and other neuromuscular disorders. Dr. Mott and others donate their talents, skills, and time to work with and to provide training to professionals in China, improving the quality of life for children and their communities.

Since its founding, members of the network, in collaboration with the Amity Foundation of Nanjing, China, have traveled to China many times to conduct workshops and courses for orphanage workers, therapy students, medical students, physicians in rehabilitation medicine, traditional Chinese medicine physicians, and others. Thousands of children who live in under-served areas of China now have improved health because of Dr. Mott and his China Partners Network team.

Don was a compassionate healer, a devoted family man and a devout Christian who had a genuine relationship with the Lord.  Our sympathies are extended to his children, grandchildren, extended family and all who knew and loved him. His  intellect, medical expertise and tremendous dedication to make the world a better, kinder and more understanding place will be deeply missed.  His legacy lives on in CPN and all the lives he has touched over the years.

A link to Don’s obituary is provided below:

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/legacyremembers/donald-mott-obituary?id=49927599

When the Power of Love overcomes the Love of Power, the world will know Peace. (Jimi Hendrix)

Dr. Donald Mott



Janet Ruud Announces Retirement from GTPP Board


Having been on the GTPP Board since its inception in 2005, Ruud retired in April of this year, after the Dedication of Bill Lincoln’s Peace Bench. Janet had informed the Board in early 2020 that she wished to retire, but when the COVID virus descended upon us and Zoom was the way to hold a meeting, she agreed to stick around for a while longer. The Board threw a surprise retirement party for her, where she expressed her deep gratitude to them all for their enthusiasm for peace and support over the years. She is happy to have some time for other interests now –  including support of gay rights, anti-racism, and refugee assistance, as well as reading, relaxing, and traveling. (Janet can be contacted at janet@tacomapeaceprize.org)


Kwabi Amoah-Forson

KAF-001

Recognizing that peace begins locally, the Greater Tacoma Peace Prize is proud to announce the selection of Kwabi Amoah-Forson as the 2022 Laureate. Since 2017, Amoah-Forson has worked in Tacoma AND INTERNATIONALLY to promote peace on multiple levels. Beginning in the Spring of 2017, he began The Peace Camp every Saturday in Wright Park, where he would take posters, a radio, and a megaphone with him to hold conversations with people about what peace means to them. He continued this work by spending the next two years bringing The Peace Camp across the Northwest, to California and parts of Europe.

This first campaign for peace, led into the “The Real Peace Podcast.” Here, Amoah-Forson interviewed community members about peace, interpersonal connectivity, conflict resolution, and the importance of culture and diversity. Continuing his work outside the studio, in 2019 Amoah-Forson began driving around in The Peace Bus, a 1988 Mitsubishi Van, distributing socks to our houseless community members. In August 2019, he brought The Peace Bus to the U.S.-Mexico border and interviewed non-violence educator Michael Nagler and members of Border Patrol. Upon his return to Tacoma, Amoah-Forson started sharing his experience and messages of nonviolence, compassion, kindness, and peace with students in Tacoma schools.

The board recognizes the need for community-based activists, who are dedicated to understanding the different perspectives people bring to conversations. Amoah-Forson’s dedication to looking at a fuller picture, and his passion for bringing others along on that journey, has impressed the Board and his community.

Teresa Hunt, who nominated Amoah-Forson, wrote:
“[Kwabi] has been instrumental in promoting peace and diversity in our community, [while continuing] his numerous community services programs. [He] is the most influential peace-promoting citizen we have amongst us.”

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to close buildings and transition to online learning, Amoah-Forson and The Peace Bus distributed breakfast to families in need, under the belief that no Tacoma child should have to go without breakfast during the quarantine. During the Summer of 2021 Kwabi took his Peace Bus from Washington State to Washington DC, delivering hundreds of books on peace, love and understanding to Youth across the country.

Kwabi Amoah-Forson currently lives in Tacoma. He continues to work for Peace in our community and looks forward to the continuation of his recent peace campaign, “Every-Kid-Eats”, helping address child hunger in Tacoma. He also plans to finish his flight school training this year in preparation of his life long goal of flying for peace with his own airplane, “The Peace Plane.”

 

Social media:
https://www.instagram.com/thepeacebus
https://www.facebook.com/kwabi.amoahforson


The Greater Tacoma Peace Prize honors local citizens and institutions who promote, achieve, and sustain peace, justice, and reconciliation at home and abroad. First awarded in 2005, the GTPP is rooted in Norwegian-American culture and the Norwegian dedication to Peace. At the GTPP we are dedicated to celebrating the everyday ways people further peace in our communities, and to growing and nuancing our understanding of Peace in all its forms. You can learn more about the organization at TacomaPeacePrize.org.

 

Contact:
Barbara Gilchrist, board member
barbara@tacomapeaceprize.org
Cort Ockfen, publishing
cort@tacomapeaceprize.org
Greater Tacoma Peace Prize

 


Photos from the Peace Bench Dedication