May 11, 2012
A Mother’s Day Gift to Mother Earth—Mine Removal
Turning Mines To Vines in The Holy Land
A Leadership Gift from Napa Valley Couple
May 11, 2012—Napa Valley, California—In an effort to heal the wounds of war caused by landmines, a leadership gift was presented to Roots of Peace in tribute to Mother's Day 2012 by Shirley & Paul Dean, owners, Spiriterra Vineyards.
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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | MEDIA CONTACTS: | ||
| Heidi Kuhn, 415-948-9646 | |||
| Kathy Budzinski, 415-455-9404 |
A Mother’s Day Gift to Mother Earth—Mine Removal
Turning Mines To Vines in The Holy Land
A Leadership Gift from Napa Valley Couple
May 11, 2012—Napa Valley, California—In an effort to heal the wounds of war caused by landmines, a leadership gift was presented to Roots of Peace in tribute to Mother's Day 2012 by Shirley & Paul Dean, owners, Spiriterra Vineyards. In honor of an estimated 10,000 women and children who are killed or maimed by landmines each year, Napa Valley vintners chose this special weekend to honor mothers around the world who have no voice. The generous and heartfelt gift from the Dean Family will create a ripple effect for generations to come and a legacy of hope for mothers and children, whose innocent footsteps will soon walk safely across the lands where landmines lay treacherously beneath the soil and soul.
Earlier last month, the Dean Family joined Roots of Peace at a private dinner hosted by Founder, Heidi Kuhn and her husband and Executive Director, Gary Kuhn, in honor of the Israeli Minister of Home Front Defense, General Matan Vilnai, who announced a partnership with Roots of Peace to remove an estimated 1.5 million landmines and unexploded ordnance in both Israel and West Bank. Minister Vilnai has championed government support in Israel for unanimously passing the historic mine action legislation in Israel last year on March 14th, 2011.
Roots of Peace has raised funds and awareness to remove millions of landmines and UXO worldwide. Roots of Peace was inspired by the work of the late Princess Diana of Wales, and in September 1997 began an innovative model to DEMINE~REPLANT~REBUILD™ in war-torn countries. Today Roots of Peace works in 28 of the 34 provinces in Afghanistan and employs over 500 Afghans who are now doubling/tripling their incomes to poppies by marketing/exporting high value agricultural crops. The work of MINES TO VINES™ embodies the Isaiah Prophesy of turning SWORDS TO PLOWSHARES.
This humanitarian effort in the Middle East has garnered the respect of many world leaders. Since January, 2012, Kühn has personally met various religious and government officials throughout the region, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian Prime President, Mahmoud Abbas, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad Twal, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III, and Ambassador Maen Rshid Areikat of the General Delegation of the PLO to the United States in Washington, D.C., who pledged his support and stated, “Our Delegation has great admiration for the work of Roots of Peace. Your organization is a source of inspiration for members of our community, and we commend you for taking on the daunting task of demining The Holy Land.”
This summer, Roots of Peace will implement the first ever humanitarian demining project in Israel/West Bank on the Fields of Bethlehem. For more than 60 years, this abandoned minefield, located in the heart of a village near Jerusalem and Bethlehem, has claimed the lives and limbs of a dozen civilians, mostly children. “This leadership gift will allow Roots of Peace to deliver on their dream to remove landmines in The Holy Land--beginning in Bethlehem, the site where Mary gave birth to Baby Jesus over two thousand years ago--never expecting a limb to be blown off by a landmine. It takes only eight (8) pounds to detonate a landmine--the average weight of a newborn child," says Heidi Kuhn, Founder, CEO, Roots of Peace. "As a mother of four children, Shirley shares this same sense of responsibility for mothers worldwide--and, what better place to begin than The Holy Land."
MISSION STATEMENT:
Roots of Peace, an international humanitarian, non-political organization works to unearth dangerous landmines in war-torn countries and empowers the local communities scarred by these inhumane weapons. Working to build sustainable crops on land once too dangerous to traverse is how we transform the scars of conflict into the Roots of Peace. For further information visit www.rootsofpeace.org.
Roots of Peace Founder/CEO, Heidi Kuhn, with Paul and Shirley Dean
on the Fields of Bethlehem, January 6, 2012.
Gary Kuhn, Shirley & Paul Dean, Heidi Kuhn, Father John Balleza, Minister Matan Vilnai,
Rabbi Stacy Friedman. Spring planting of “olive tree” and “grapevine” in a
symbolic effort—turning Mines to VinesTM worldwide from Marin County.
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