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In June, 1981, the SANE (National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy) Educational Development Fund board approved the idea (in 1993 SANE was renamed Peace Action) and adopted the creation of Peace Sites as one of its projects. The idea caught on and grew to 264 Peace Sites. The original dream of 20 such sites in the State of New Jersey became an international venture. Peace Sites sprouted up in cities and towns across the US and overseas to provide real hope for the future.
The People Care Center in Bridgewater, NJ became a Peace Site, as did the Pegasus Book Exchange in Seattle, WA and the National Institute for Psychotherapies in NY, NY. Twenty YWCA's in the US and 40 Y's in Great Britain housed Peace Sites.
The first high school Peace Site was dedicated in Westfield, NJ where 918 of 1135 students voted in favor. They wanted to open their school to all sides of the political spectrum and address violence at all levels.
In a dedication May 24, 1985, during its Second Annual Peace Day, Blenfield School in Montclair, NJ was declared by its students, teachers and staff, "The First Middle School Peace Site in the World!" And in a dedication April 21, 1985, the children of the Live Oak Friends Meeting in Houston, TX, declared their First Day School (The Quaker equivalent of Sunday School), "The World's First Children's Peace Site." |
