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Nobel Laureate to be Voice for Pennies for Peace, Marin Independent Journal Jody Williams, a 1997 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, announced yesterday her plans to become an international ambassador of sorts for Pennies for Peace, a new local nonprofit group that collects donations from schoolchildren to help remove land mines in war-torn countries. Williams made her announcement before more than 200 diplomats, business people and local residents at an early evening cocktail party at the San Rafael home of the group's 16-year-old co-founder, Kyleigh Kühn. “The world is in such an unstable way at the moment,” Williams said. “This is a very easy way for people to contribute. I find that kids want to help and donating pennies is an easy thing to do. When the kids contribute they are part of a global effort.” In 1992, Williams helped establish the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, an anti-land mine activist group that spread to more than 60 countries. Williams and her co-workers were awarded the Nobel Peace Price after spearheading a successful public education campaign and for her efforts in shoring up support for an international treaty banning land mines, signed at a diplomatic conference in Oslo in September 1997. “The most important thing to understand is that in order to create the world you want to live in, you must take action to bring about the changes you want to see in the world,” Williams said. |
