Projects & Programs

SFP Annual Programs

Service for Peace promotes volunteerism and trains youth leaders through the following initiatives:

Signature Project - Martin Luther King Jr. Season of Service (January through April annually)

The annual Martin Luther King Season of Service led by Service For Peace honors and advances Dr. King’s dream for peaceful and just communities, improving the quality of life for marginalized and unfortunate citizens and including the whole of our communities through meaningful service engaging sectors. We mobilize Americans to observe the Martin Luther King Day holiday, strengthen communities engaged in service, and reflect on the life and teachings of Dr. King. The 2007 Service For Peace event’s partners and chapters engaged 66,562 volunteers in 857 projects in 17 cities across the country in “Advancing the Dream for Peaceful Communities.” 572 committed partners and organizations included Target, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Pepsi, State Farm, and Coke. “Everybody can be great because anybody can serve,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

• Building a movement of social change
• Mentoring young children in building peace
• Providing alternatives to physical conflict and violence
• Crafting Peace and Diversity Quilts
• Creating “My Dream for the World” paper chains
• Demonstrating corporate social responsibility
• Beautifying community centers and schools
• Involving municipal government
• Energizing 1,000 people touched in Bridgeport, CT as the event was capped off with music and Peace Readings of Dr. King to Mother Theresa, Thoreau, Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln, Helen Keller, plus many more peace advocates – just one example.

Partners for Peace – Community Day of Corporate Service (annually)
This one day event involves Service For Peace corporate sponsors and their associates providing one day of service in their community. The services range from beautifying city parks to building nests for endangered species of birds. While utilizing the skills of leaders and various participants, the service projects involved give the community a clearer glimpse of the personal face of the corporate sponsor and the opportunity to get involved exposes associates to the quirks and vitality of the people and places that they serve every day. The results of these efforts are not only psychologically rewarding, but make an impact on the community at large. Through the work and diligence of associate volunteers on a specific project, they can accomplish in a few hours what may have been be on a city’s list for years. Media spotlight generates pride and enthusiasm.

Global Peacemakers Projects
Service For Peace involves college students in voluntary service programs designed to increase international cooperation and to break the cycle of poverty in nations throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. We form strategic alliances with colleges, government ministries, NGOs and businesses to provide experiential learning and training in leadership development, citizenship, social responsibility and information technology.

Beginning in 2005, Service For Peace launched an international service project in the Dominican Republic. The chapter at the National Public university was assisted by chapters in Miami to create model elementary schools. The school buildings have been renovated, the classrooms equipped and supplied, and students from the local university then maintain an ongoing mentoring relationship with the children. This model school has drawn community interest and involvement and promises a better future for the children of the community. Community health, sanitation, agriculture, literacy have been advanced among adults.

Summer of Service (SOS)
The Summer of Service (SOS) is an annual realization and celebration of community service and volunteering involving thousands of youth and adult leaders and volunteers from hundreds of nonprofit, educational, corporate and faith-based partners in a diverse range of projects that strengthen community and build character. In 2002, 300 youth aged 14-20 participated in the first Summer of Service program in Washington, DC. 40,000 hours of documented service included a 1-day clean-up of 20 DC public schools which the Washington Post said saved the District $400,000. In 2005, more than 2,900 volunteers contributed over 111,000 hours of community service valued at over $1.5 million in 16 cities. Lives, relationships and communities matured.

Reading for Peace (annually Spring and Fall)
Service For Peace offers a Reading for Peace Program with the objective of creating a love of literacy. The Reading for Peace Program encompasses libraries, schools, hospitals, and day care centers, with the intent of inspiring engaging discussions and creating an environment of community connectedness through intergenerational and multicultural readers reading out loud from the writings of such peace advocates as Martin Luther King Jr., Mohandas Ghandi, John F. Kennedy, and a vast array of other noteworthy authors. Through Reading for Peace, the values of these peace leaders and their legacies of nonviolence can enrich the very souls of the audience. The spirit of eloquence and wisdom of those who have yearned for peace embody the richness required for improving our communities to make a better life for all. As Dr. King states, “We must work increasingly to uplift this nation that we love to a higher destiny, to a higher plateau, to a more noble expression of humanness.” Reading for Peace can help us achieve that higher level.

Other Unique National and International Service For Peace Projects:

PATHMAKERS Youth Leadership Program (throughout the year) – transformational leadership, communication, and teamwork training for youth.

Global Youth Service Day (April annually)

Global Youth Service Day is the largest annual celebration of young volunteers, where millions of young people in countries everywhere highlight and carry out thousands of community improvement projects. GYSD offers a way for local, national, and international organizations to:

BUILD the capacity of an international network of organizations that promotes youth participation, service, and learning;
EDUCATE the public, the media, and policy-makers about the year-round contributions of young people as community leaders around the world;
MOBILIZE youth and adults to meet the needs of their communities through volunteering; and
LEARN and share effective practices in youth service, youth voice, and civic engagement in the world today.
Service For Peace is a member of the International Coordinating Committee of GYSD. Our chapters throughout the world conduct service projects on the one weekend in April that is designated as Global Youth Service Day.
For more information, go to: www.gysd.org (international) www.ysa.org (U.S.A.)

International Day of Peace

The International Day of Peace provides an opportunity for individuals, organizations and nations to create practical acts of Peace on a shared date. Use the International Day of Peace annually to highlight the Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World, 2001 to 2010. Established by a United Nations resolution in 1981, the International Day of Peace was first celebrated September 1982.
Visit page: http://www.internationaldayofpeace.org/un.htm

National Family Volunteer Day (November annually, U.S.A.)

Each year, Service For Peace encourages all of its volunteers to involve their families in community service project on National Family Volunteer Day. This annual day of service, held on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, is designed to demonstrate the power of families who choose to volunteer together to support the communities in which they live and serve. Volunteering as a family provides quality time for busy families, strengthens communication and bonds and positively impacts local communities across the nation.
For more information, go to: http://www.pointsoflight.org and http://disney.go.com/disneyhand/familyvolunteers/

International Volunteer Day (December annually)

IVD offers an opportunity for volunteer organizations and individual volunteers to make visible their contributions - at local, national and international levels - to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Over the years, rallies, parades, community volunteering projects, environmental awareness, free medical care and advocacy campaigns have all featured prominently on IVD.
Visit page: http://www.worldvolunteerweb.org/int-l-volunteer-day.html