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January 3, 2008Napa Valley brings "light" to Afghan children The Epiphany Gift Offers “Pennies for Peace” in New Year 2008 JANUARY 3, 2008, St. Helena, CA – The Napa Valley Community has raised over one-half million pennies for peace in support of the Roots of Peace Penny Campaign to remove landmines and reclaim the land for the peaceful purposes of planting farms and building schools and sports fields in war-torn countries. The community of St. Helena began their campaign on September 11, 2007 and was led by co-chairpersons Shirley Dean & Sharon Graves. Shirley Dean will present a Wells Fargo Bank Check to Roots of Peace Founder, Heidi Kuhn on January 6th at 3:00 p.m. at The Meritage Resort, 875 Bordeaux Way, Napa Valley, California 94558, where a ceremony celebrating The Epiphany—Manifestation of the Light from Within—to bring forth a Peaceful New Year 2008 will take place. The ceremony will honor the courageous footsteps of the late Benazir Bhutto, Princess Diana, Mother Theresa and other women who have strived to plant the roots of peace on earth and inspire future generations to go forth with the “gift of light.” The presentation of the check to Roots of Peace is the culmination of a community-wide campaign that was launched at Lyman Park in St. Helena on September 11th and was attended by Congressman Mike Thompson. "As someone who was wounded by a booby trap in Vietnam, I know how dangerous landmines and other explosive remnants can be. These weapons don't just kill soldiers-they kill thousands of civilians, including children, every year. Dozens of St. Helena organizations and hundreds of local children joined Roots of Peace with the goal to raise a half a million pennies to help make war torn countries safer. I'm proud to have played a small part in the effort and proud of my hometown community," says Rep. Thompson. Over 50 different service organizations, businesses, restaurants, wineries, families and individuals participated in the campaign. “I am deeply touched by the response from civic-minded Napa community to get to together and realize that they have a sincere desire to serve humankind not just here at home, but elsewhere in the world," said Heidi Kuhn. The Roots of Peace annual Penny Campaign was first launched on September 11, 2003 by ABC 7 TV news anchor Cheryl Jennings, Roots of Peace founder Heidi Kuhn and her then 16-year-old daughter Kyleigh Kuhn. The Penny Campaign is dedicated to inspiring youth and communities to give their “2 cents” for peace to heal the wounds of war in Afghanistan and other mine-affected countries. Landmines and other explosive remnants of war claim between 50 and 100 new victims each month in Afghanistan. Over half of the victims are children. Removal is imperative. Over 15 million pennies have been collected in the campaign since inception and have been put to use in Afghanistan to remove landmines, repair and build schools and soccer fields, restoring safe places for Afghan children to learn and play. The Penny Campaign is a program of Roots of Peace. Since 1997, Roots of Peace, a San Rafael-based nonprofit organization, has been dedicated to removing landmines and rebuilding war-torn communities worldwide. Since its inception, Roots of Peace has been supported by many California vintners including Robert Mondavi, Miljenko Grgich, Ambassador Kathryn Hall, Delores Cakebread, Gina Gallo, Francis Ford Coppola, Judy Jordan, the late Erika Hills, John Shafer, Diane Disney Miller, Tor Kenward, Eric Wente and Chris Benziger. Recent achievements of Roots of Peace’s programs in Afghanistan include the removal of over 100,000 landmines and unexploded ordinance; over 50,000 Afghan farmers trained to grow alternative agricultural crops— doubling their incomes; and, new local, regional and export markets established for Afghan fresh and dried fruits and nuts. For more information, please visit www.rootsofpeace.org. List of St. Helena Penny Campaign Participants
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