Peace maker extraordinaire, Lori Nelson's conception of a community peace center in Iowa City came to fruition when she called a meeting of local activists together, who believed enough in the idea to work with her to found PEACE Iowa. Her convictions and her leadership skills are an outgrowth of her work as a director of a multicultural understanding program while in Pennsylvania, her involvement with the Iowa City Friends meeting for many years, her membership in Iowans for Peace since 9/11/2001, and her work teaching psychology, most recently for the University of Iowa.

Benyamin "Ben" Kazemi has been an extremely valuable volunteer for PEACE Iowa, translating children's messages from English to Farsi for our Iowans and Iranians Cultivating Peace Children's Project.  He also staffed our Iran booth for kids in the Global Village at Art Fest 2013.  Ben came from Iran to the US to go to graduate school. After he received his master's degree in computer science, he started working in the IT department at the University of Iowa.  He has been living in Iowa City since January 2011, and he says he is happy that he has ended up in such a beautiful city with beautiful people.

Though not in Vietnam, Ed Flaherty was in the Army in 1966 to 1968, and was among those veterans who threw their medals over the fence at the Capitol in 1971. He always thought that if the US had only learned the right lessons from the Vietnam fiasco we'd have had a chance of pursuing a just foreign policy. In civilian life Ed worked as a banker serving farm families and small businesses from 1981 to 2009, and now retired, welcomes the opportunity to devote time to rabble-rousing for peace as an active member of Veterans for Peace. Ed is currently on the PEACE Iowa Board of Directors.

Khady Hamid is new to Iowa City, and we are thrilled that she connected with PEACE Iowa so quickly after her arrival. Originally from the Maldives, Khady attended college in the U.S., receiving her degree in Economics and Global Studies from St. Lawrence University. While in the Maldives, she worked in the pro-democracy organization Democracy Network. She is helping us improving the layout of our web site and the main PEACE Iowa pamphlet. Khady is also creating a new section of our web site about weaponized drones ... and is assisting at our Peace Literacy workshops for youth.
—from the PEACE Iowa Spring 2013 Newsletter

A University of Iowa graduate, Alisa Meggitt has lived in Iowa City in recent years, working as a middle school global studies teacher, introducing her sixth graders to issues such as child labor, world hunger, ageism, and factory farming. At one point her students raised $3500, which Alisa took to her former Peace Corps village in Senegal, Africa, to coordinate draught rescue and relief efforts. Alisa is one of the main organizers of Peace Day, our annual collaboration with the Iowa Children’s Museum. In preparation for Peace Day, she leads peace literacy workshops to educate 7th-10th graders about war and peace, and then helps these middle and high school students create peace education activities for younger children.

Currently the secretary of the PEACE Iowa Board and a PEACE Iowa office volunteer, Ann Stomquist has lived in Iowa City for over 30 years, 19 of those years as a Research Scientist in the UI College of Public Health coordinating a federally-funded rural environmental health study. A lifelong Quaker and pacifist, she attends the West Branch Friends Meeting for which she is currently Co-Clerk of the meeting's Peace and Social Concerns Committee. Her past work includes two years of mentoring women and teaching Swahili literacy in Tanzania as an AFSC volunteer, and participating in the anti-Vietnam War movement as a member of the Milwaukee Catholic Worker community. Ann brings to PEACE Iowa her administative skills and a lifetime of commitment to improving lives.

 
Aaron Rempp grew up in Iowa City and has many years of experience in human services. He is currently employed as a social worker in Cedar Rapids. He is working with our intern Peyton on an interview project, as well as assisting us with seeking in-kind donations from local businesses and [with] staffing the Peace Literacy Workshops for Youth.

—from the PEACE Iowa Spring 2013 Newsletter

 
This semester, Peyton, an International Relations major at the University of Iowa is doing an internship at PEACE Iowa. He is assisting us with fundraising, staffing information tables, and interviewing peace activists about their motives for a new section of our web site. We are excited about having our first intern, and we are pleased to work with someone who is so dedicated to human rights and peace.

—from the PEACE Iowa Spring 2013 Newsletter

 
HaYoung Jeong is a freshman at the University of Iowa, majoring in International Relations. She and her family immigrated to the U.S. from South Korea several years ago, and she attended high school at West High School in Iowa City. HaYoung is interested in human rights, especially working to end modern slavery. She and other volunteers are collaborating to create a display to educate the community about conflict minerals and modern slavery, and providing information about purchasing conflict-free, slavery-free consumer goods. We will also be including that material on our web site.

—from the PEACE Iowa Spring 2013 Newsletter

 

Miriam Timmer-Hackert is our first ever paid employee and works 8 hours per week, making a big difference in the office, by taking on tasks that had been put off, organizing files, helping coordinate the office volunteers, and freeing up PEACE Iowa director Lori Nelson to focus on other things.

—from the PEACE Iowa September 2012 Newsletter

Marcia Shaffer, one of those faithful folks who hold PEACE Iowa together, is that familiar voice who answers the office phone on Wednesdays. In addition to taking on the duties of organizational treasurer, she is the principal staff person for the office once a week, handling the backlog of E-mail, returning and answering phone calls, and taking on the considerable PEACE Iowa paperwork.

Dennis Bricker is a Professor Emeritus of Industrial Engineering for the University of Iowa, having contributed to his field with a considerable body of published research. Dennis brings an unassuming, unruffled management style to the Internet office tasks required of him weekly, and is currently in the development stages of the PEACE Iowa website upgrade.

A member of Veterans for Peace, Jeff Strotmann has been involved in the movement since the Viet Nam war era when he was arrested for demonstrating against US involvement in that war. As a weekly PEACE Iowa office worker, Jeff terms himself "master of the copy machine," running off everything on that recalcitrant piece of equipment from fliers to mailings to meeting notes.

This summer, PEACE Iowa was fortunate to benefit from the talents of high school student volunteer Lushia. She has a long-standing interest in spreading awareness about peace issues, and she has visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Japan. Lushia is a West High School student whose talents include music and journalism. She used her graphic design skills to create event fliers and other publicity materials for PEACE Iowa, and she redesigned the information bulletin board outside our office door. In addition, she staffed our Iran booth for children at Arts Fest.