High School Student Creates a Peace Button to Promote Non-Violence at Home, Work, School

Nov. 26, 2012 - PRLog -- NEWBURYPORT, Mass., November 26, 2012 – When 14-year-old Madelyn Nelson took marker in hand, she embraced the idea that peace begins at home. The result is a peace button that is the winning entry in a “What Peace Means to Me” contest hosted by the Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center.  Her submission was chosen from among 75 entries after the public was invited to vote their favorite submission on Facebook and the artwork was then reproduced as a pin to promote awareness during National Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October.  

This is the second time in two years that Madelyn’s submission has won. Madelyn and her twin sister Jennifer, the 14-year-old daughters of Jan and Bob Nelson, are 9th grade students at Pentucket High School and come from a family that believes strongly in the power of peace. Bob Nelson and both girls have run in the Dorothy’s Run 5K.

Madelyn’s button was distributed to walk participants for the Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center Walk Against Domestic Violence on September 30. The artwork depicts a blue and green earth encircled by symbols of home, school and work with the words Be Peaceful. She is receiving a $25 gift certificate to the Newburyport Chamber of Commerce.

“’What Peace Means to Me’ is a community campaign aimed at young people that promotes the idea of peace and hope at an age they are most receptive. It is important that we reach out to them with a message of non-violence,” says Suzanne Dubus, CEO of the Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center.

For 30 years, the Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center has been helping individuals and families at risk because of domestic violence. What began as the compassionate mission of several volunteer parishioners of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Newburyport in 1982 has grown into a nationally-recognized nonprofit organization serving victims of domestic violence from Amesbury, Merrimac, Georgetown, Newbury, Newburyport, Rowley, Salisbury, West Newbury, and Groveland. The mission of the Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center is to empower community members to live free from fear, intimidation, violence or the threat of abuse by providing support, advocacy, and education. For more information, call 978-465-0999, visit www.jeannegeigercrisiscenter.org or call the 24-hour confidential crisis hotline at 978-388-1888.