Thanks everyone. We had a splendid dinner at the Polish Community Center on October 14, 2010. The food was great and Steel Street Rose was in peak form giving us some good old rock and roll. There were more dancers this year and a great time was had by all. Our honorees, Elliott Adams, Linda Linda LeTendre and Joe Lombardo offered thoughts of encouragement and insight and expressed appreciation also. For our part we are very glad indeed that our area is so rich in dedicated peace activists and VFP and the entire community was delighted to honor this exceptional group of peace makers who are also our friends and neighbors. It was a terrific evening of celebration.
Paz,
John
We had so much fun last year we are doing it all again, the second annual Tom Paine Winter Soldier Peace and Justice Awards Dinner on Thursday, October 14, 2010 at the Polish Community Center, 225 Washington Avenue Ext., Albany. Steel Street Rose will be back and we have the grand opportunity to honor three excellent and very accomplished peace workers. Our honorees this year are Elliott Adams from Veterans For Peace, Joe Lombardo from Bethlehem Neighbors For Peace and Linda LeTendre, a member of the Sarartoga Peace Alliance. It was difficult to limit our selection to three as there are so many deserving folks in our community who work tirelessly for peace and justice. So please save Thursday, October 14, 2010 for a community celebration.
The awards dinner and presentations will be held at the Polish Community Center, 225 Washington Ave. Ext., Albany. Social hour will begin at 6 PM and dinner at 7 PM. Reservations are required by October 11, 2010 and can to be made by contacting Dan Wilcox at 518-482-0262 or through our Contact Us Page. The cost is $30 per person. Please make your check out to Veterans For Peace. On the memo line please write awards dinner. Kindly mail your check to:
Dan Wilcox
280 S. Main Avenue
Albany, NY 12208
For their exemplary, nonviolent and tireless efforts on behalf of Peace our recipients this year (October 14, 2010) are Elliot Adams, Joe Lombardo and Linda LeTendre.
About our Honorees
Elliott Adams, past national President of Veterans For Peace, was a paratrooper in the infantry serving in Viet Nam, Japan, Korea, and Alaska. He has served his local community in upstate New York in a variety of capacities such as: President of the School Board, Mayor, Committee Chair of BSA Explorer Post 17, President of Rotary, Chamber of Commerce, and Master of the Masonic Lodge. He has done organizing work for United For Peace and Justice, War Resisters League, School Of Americas Watch, Peace Has No Borders, Veterans For Peace and many other organizations.
Elliot has transformed himself from soldier to nonviolent warrior. He has also done nonviolence and social movement trainings for Fellowship Of Reconciliation, School Of Americas Watch, Peacemakers of Schoharie County, Student Environmental Action Coalition, War Resistors League, and other groups. He is currently Nonviolent Training Coordinator of Veterans For Peace.
He is dedicating his life to stopping the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and abolishing all war. This work has taken him from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Mexico border to Canada. For this works he has testified before the US Congress Judiciary Committee, attended Parliament in Canada, and been arrested numerous times.
Linda LeTendre
Raised Roman Catholic, Linda LeTendre has been a life long Quaker in her heart (actually joining in 1977) so when asked about her religion she tells people that she is “Quatholic”. She is also a self proclaimed “Danhead” (a devotee of Fr. Daniel Berrigan) and believes that the 11th commandment is “Thou shalt provoke”.
She became active in nonviolent civil disobedience in March of 2004 after the death of a cherished friend, Rev. Beth Dewey, from leukemia. So far she has eleven arrests for Christian witness against war and torture. One arrest resulted in a conviction in 2008 for “unlawful free speech on Supreme Court grounds” for which she served a year of unsupervised probation.
Ms. LeTendre is active in the Saratoga Peace Alliance, witnessing for peace at their weekly Saturday vigil in downtown Saratoga Springs and helping to arrange numerous teaching programs about peace and justice for the community. For the last two years she has helped to organize “Peace-ing It Together”, the peace fair in Saratoga Springs, NY. And is the author of “Waging Peace”, a blog at “The Daily Gazette” news paper. She is a member of Witness Against Torture and for the last two years has spent a week in Washington DC witnessing with them at the Capitol and the White House in an effort to stop the use of torture by the US government. She has also witnessed, marched and taken part in actions with Veterans for Peace.
Ms. LeTendre is the founder of Community Living & Advocacy Supports, Inc. (CLAS) - a non-profit agency serving people with developmental disabilities. CLAS was one of the first independent, autonomous case management agencies in New York. She also helped to set up other such agencies in the state. She is currently the President of the Board of Directors.
Along with four other people, Ms. LeTendre has recently founded “Upstate Kairos” a group that can be described as a safe haven for peacemaking Christians in the war making state and in war blessing churches (all faiths are welcome).
Ms. LeTendre volunteers for the Temple Sinai's Bread and Torah project, baking weekly at the Slice of Heaven bakery in Saratoga Springs, delivers food for the local food pantry, sings in the choir at the Presbyterian-New England Congregational church and has done missionary work in Uganda. She has also been a Rotarian for almost 20 years and hangs at the Catholic Worker houses in NYC and DC whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Married to the love of her life (who is also very proud of her), she lives in Saratoga Springs with two cats and a dog.
Joe Lombardo: Joe started his activism career early: At the age of 13 he spoke in school against racism. In 1962 he marched with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and worked as a staff person for the National Peace Coalition. A decade ago he helped to found Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace -– one of the most active local peace groups in the area. He is also one of the original members of the Northeast Peace and Justice Action Coalition and is a member of the Administrative Body of the National Assembly to End the U.S. Wars and Occupations.
This past July Joe played a central role in organizing the national anti-war conference in Alban, which drew 800 people. He is also a founding member of the Muslim Solidarity Committee and Project Salam. He also sings and plays guitar with the Solidarity Singers. For the last two years they have performed at the “Peace-ing It Together,” the peace fair in Saratoga Springs, and have been a favorite.
Joe has a huge shock of white hair and is often described as “the guy with the hair” when people want to point him out at a crowded rally.