By Betty Jenewin/Deb Selkow

I wonder how many of us have walked past our Peace Pole and not remembered or known its’ history? Take a walk down Memory Lane with former Religious Education Director Deb Selkow. Deb says:

• I brought the idea to UUCW after learning about Peace Poles at Star Island. When I described our upcoming year of Peace activities, another DRE at Star suggested that we include a Peace Pole and so I researched that.

• The other big highlight of that year was our Pieces of Peace Fair on December 14, 2002. The Peace Fair involved lots of community outreach and culminated in a daylong event at UUCW with local musicians and school choruses and a big fair in Fellowship Hall where we sold items that had been made by people throughout the community, all with the word “Peace” on them. Proceeds were donated to UNICEF.

• The Peace Pole AND the Peace Gardens (another part of the project) were funded by a CBD grant, and many, many UUCW folks helped reshape some of our building landscape and create the gardens.

• Many churches and schools and institutions have Peace Poles and it always makes me happy when I discover one. It makes me feel at home. I’m really glad that First Parish Brewster here on the Cape, [Deb’s current church], has their own Peace Pole, probably erected around the same time as ours.