Center Celebrates County Leaders For Peace and Justice

Recipients of annual peace and justice awards for standouts in Contra Costa County have been named.

The Mt. Diablo Peace and Justice Center in Walnut Creek made the announcements, and plans to celebrate them at the Give Peace a Dinner Dance Saturday, Oct. 1, at the Holy Trinity Cultural Center, 1700 School St., Moraga.

The winners are:

• Nancy and Dan Harrington in 1981 founded the non-profit Books for the Barrios of Concord, which provides resources for schools in the Philippines by mobilizing schoolchildren and volunteers to collect materials locally.  
• Lynn MacMichael, a lifetime activist instrumental in supporting the Crosses of Lafayette Peace Memorial. Her work for peace and justice goes back to the civil rights movement and has continued through the decades.
• Natalie Russell and Gwen Watson, co-chairs of the Social Justice Alliance of the Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County. The Interfaith Council has 125 church members of every faith. SOJA works on issues of racism, welfare reform and immigration.  
• Dennis Thomas, former staff and current board member of the Mt. Diablo Peace and Justice Center, who initiated the center's Art and Writing Challenge. His activism goes back to 1986 when he participated in a peace walk from Washington, D.C., to Moscow.

The dinner dance is from 6:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1, at the cultural center in Moraga. There will be a gourmet meal, raffle prizes and dancing to the music of Big Bang Beat. Call (925) 933-7850 or go online for tickets.

The 2011 selection committee consisted of: Kish Rajan, Walnut Creek City Councilman; Janet Thomas, Co-Chair of Lamorinda Peace and Justice Group; Stevie Keys Roseman, longtime local Peace and Justice activist; Jeff Day of the Congressional District 10 Peace Alliance, and Bob Hansen of the Mt. Diablo Peace and Justice Center Board of Directors.