Honouring Oakville peace makers

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On November 19, 2020 the YMCA of Oakville celebrated individuals and groups in our community who have made significant contributions toward peace-building by awarding four Peace Medals at our Virtual Community Breakfast for Peace.

Congratulations to the 2020 Peace Medal recipients:

Youth: Evan Muller

Adult: Juliet Duke

Groups: Halton Youth Initiative and Loyola Development and Peace Student Club

“The recipients of the YMCA Peace Medals demonstrate that peace has many dimensions. They show us the importance of building communities, locally, nationally, or internationally, where people feel that they belong and are included. Most often their actions started small and grew into something bigger than themselves. That is the power of peace,” says Kyle Barber, President & CEO, YMCA of Oakville.

From November 14-21, during YMCA Peace Week, the YMCA of Oakville, together with YMCAs across Canada, are celebrating the presence of peace in our communities, and reflecting on the peace building work that happens all year both inside and outside the YMCA.

As we navigate through 2020 and the COVID-19 crisis, YMCA Peace Week takes on new meaning, illustrating how the ongoing work of building peace needs to continue now more than ever. COVID-19 and the urgent calls for action for diversity, social inclusion, and equity are challenging us, as individuals, as communities, and as a country, to reconsider where we’ve been and where we want to go. During YMCA Peace Week, we honour those at the forefront of these peace-building efforts and encourage Canadians to ask themselves how they can bring change to their communities. Our 2020 Peace Medal Recipients Youth Individual: Evan Muller

Evan is a Grade 12 student at Oakville Trafalgar High School. After reading about the increase in food bank use during the pandemic, he created The Fresh Food Project to provide boxes of fresh local produce to Oakville families in need, while also helping small farmers whose businesses suffered.

Adult Individual: Juliet Duke

Originally from Guyana, South America, Juliet immigrated to Canada in 1974 and was made aware of the need to support people who found themselves displaced or abused. Juliet started a group home where she supported young moms, abused women and displaced teenagers. When she moved to Oakville in 1998 she continued to work to make others lives better and partnered with Food for Life , the YMCA and Arthouse to do it.

Groups: 

Halton Youth Initiative

The Halton Youth Initiative is a youth-led group within North Oakville, Acton, Aldershot and Milton. Their goal is to encourage youth voice, and to empower youth to get involved and have a positive impact within the community. Our group focuses on identifying issues in the community and taking action by collaborating and discovering solutions.

Loyola Development and Peace Student Club

The Loyola Development and Peace Student Club (D & P) is committed to supporting development and peace. The Loyola D & P student club helps the world's poor in reiterating the call for global solidarity to help the most vulnerable populations in the Global South, that they may have access to a better life in which they have the necessary economic and social instruments. This club is dedicated and committed to promoting peace by supporting the poor in their struggle for justice in the Global South. Student members take their commitment seriously in a role where they can make change for the betterment of others by using student voice, student perspectives, creativity and student passion for helping each other, and drive in order to make the world a better place.