Kootenay Circles of Hope Interfaith Thanksgiving Event

On October 11th , 2003, members of the community and outlying areas attended the First Annual Kootenay Circles of Hope event which was held at the Nelson United Chuch at 602 Silica St. Nelson. The event was sponsored by the Nelson United Church, Kootenay Fellowship of Reconcilliation, Kootenay Buddhist Peace Fellowship and Kootenay Jewish Peace Fellowship.

The evening event featured numerous speakers, musical performances and singalongs as well as snacks and goodies after the event. There were also tables set up with info from our group and other activists in the area.

Speakers included the Mayor of Nelson, Dave Elliott, J.J. Verigin, Nolan Gingrich, Paul Erickson, Jim Terral, David Boyd, Isaac Romano, Trish Bennett and a special message was read to the participants from Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb and Abdul Rauf by two members of KFOR.

Four members of the Doukabour choir sang songs of Peace and local musicians, played Traditional Jewish and Arab music.
At the closing of the event pieces of paper were distributed to the audience, who were asked to put pen to paper and commit to "Purposeful Acts of Kindness toward a more Peaceful Tomorrow". These were collected by Trish Bennett who is making a collage of the statements made and will be posted in various areas of Nelson in the near future.

The event drew near one hundred Kootenay citizens.

Click on a photo to enlarge it. All photos taken by Hannah Hadikien.