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Awards & Recognitions

Since our founding in 2002, September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows has been honored to receive recognition and awards including nominations for the 2003 and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. We share these awards and invite you to explore the organizations that made them.

Filipov Peace and Justice Forum Honors  Peaceful Tomorrows

September 1, 2021

Peaceful Tomorrows is an organization founded by family members of those killed on September 11th who have united to turn their grief into action for peace. By developing and advocating nonviolent options and actions in the pursuit of justice, they hope to break the cycles of violence engendered by war and terrorism. They acknowledge their common experience with all people affected by violence throughout the world, as they work to create a safer and more peaceful world for everyone.

Representing the honorees will be Colleen Kelly, co-founder of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. Ms. Kelly will be joined by a young member of Peaceful Tomorrows (who was a child at the time of the attack) who will speak to the future of the organization.

The Paulist Center has bestowed the Isaac Hecker Award on some extraordinary people. We assert that Colleen Kelly is just such an extraordinary person precisely because of the way that she lives the same kind of life of many of the Paulist Center members: working a full-time job, raising children, attending to family and friends, and then going out of her way to witness to the enduring power of Christ’s peace, to the transformational effect of forgiveness, and the omnipresence of incarnation within us all.

Isaac Hecker Award Nomination submitted by Vincent and Margaret Rocchio

Isaac Hecker Award for Social Justice for Colleen Kelly

December 5, 2019

Peaceful Tomorrows Recognized in Charles Strozier’s New Book

2011

“…I survey in my concluding chapter the many 9/11 survivor and family groups. I found that at best most such groups are politically centrist and cautious; others have been avowedly pro-war abroad and assertively in support of domestic policies that compromise our freedoms in the false name of fighting terrorism. Only ‘September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows’ has consistently and courageously maintained its commitment to nonviolence, tolerance, and peace. I personally find it very impressive the way PT seeks to promote dialogue on alternatives to war while ‘educating and raising the consciousness of the public on issues of war, peace, and the underlying causes of terrorism’ and supporting and offering fellowship to anyone seeking ‘nonviolent responses to all forms of terrorism, both individual and institutional.’ At the same time, PT calls attention to threats to civil liberties in the United States, acknowledging the fellowship of all peoples affected by violence and war, and encouraging a ‘multilateral, collaborative effort to bring those responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks to justice in accordance with the principles of international law.’ Such wisdom should be embraced by all Americans.”

We are honored that Pax Christi MA Assembly will be awarding Peaceful Tomorrows their Peacemaker Award on Saturday, October 22, 2011. Co-Founder and PT member Colleen Kelly will deliver the keynote on the topic “Reconciliation: Rising from the Ashes of Destruction”. PT member Loretta Filipov will accept the award on behalf of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows.

Peaceful Tomorrows receives Peacemaker Award

October 22, 2011

Peaceful Tomorrows receives the Bridge Builder Award

September 22, 2011

September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows accepted the Bridge Builder Award on September 22, 2011. We were invited to meet with civic leaders, clergy leaders as well as political activists. La Fuente Inc. was recognizing our work by presenting this award to us on September 22, 2011. PT member and former Project Director, Anne Mulderry was able to attend the ceremony.

In 2011 September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows was nominated for the 2011 El-Hibri Peace Education Prize. Nominees for this prize came from five continents.
PT was nominated for the work done to promote peace education. From individuals, to small non-profits, to much larger organizations, we are making a real difference in the lives that we touch.

El-Hibri Peace Education Prize

September, 2011

Pax ChristiUSA honors Colleen Kelly with the 2011 Teacher of Peace Award

August, 2011

Colleen Kelly was named the 2011 recipient of the Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace Award. “At a time when our nation needed models for how to deal with our grief and anger, Colleen and the members of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows showed us how to do so – seeking our own healing by committing ourselves to the work of making a more peaceful and just world for all,” Ronaldo Cruz, Pax Christi USA.

Peaceful Tomorrows member Talat Hamdani is named Human Rights and National Security Reform Fellow by the Rockwood Leadership Seminar.

Talat Hamdani Named Human Rights and National Security Reform Fellow

August, 2011

2004 Nobel Peace Prize Nomination

February, 2004

September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows was honored to be nominated for the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize by the International Peace Bureau.

From the official website of the Nobel Prize:

Alfred Nobel was interested in social issues. He developed a special engagement in the peace movement. An important factor in Nobel’s interest in peace was his acquaintance with Bertha von Suttner. Perhaps his interest in peace was also due to the use of his inventions in warfare and assassination attempts? Peace was the fifth and final prize area that Nobel mentioned in his will.

Henry Dunant, founder of the Red Cross, shared the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901 with Frédéric Passy, a leading international pacifist of the time. In addition to humanitarian efforts and peace movements, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded for work in a wide range of fields including advocacy of human rights, mediation of international conflicts, and arms control.

September 11th Families for Peaceful  Tomorrows received the award at a ceremony in New York City in June, 2003.

Since 1958, the organization has awarded its War Resisters League Peace Award to a person or organization whose work exemplifies the League’s nonviolent program of Gandhian action.

Founded in 1923 and now The United States’ oldest secular pacifist organization, the War Resisters League resists war at home and war abroad. Its work for nonviolent revolution has spanned decades and been shaped by the new visions and strategies of each generation’s peacemakers. Its political influences span the globe and include the teachings of the Indian leader, Mohandas Gandhi, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., pacifist-feminist activist and theorist Barbara Deming, labor organizer Cesar Chavez, and peace agitators A.J. Muste and Dave Dellinger.

War Resisters League Peace Award

June, 2003

Women’s Action for New Directions Mother’s Day Award

May, 2003

September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows received the Women’s Action for New Directions (WAND) Mother’s Day Award at a ceremony in the Massachusetts State House in Boston in May, 2003.

September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows was honored to be nominated for the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize by the International Peace Bureau.

2003 Nobel Peace Prize Nomination

February, 2003

Concerned Educators Allied for a Safe Environment Award

November 21, 2002

Concerned Educators Allied for a Safe Environment (CEASE) is a national membership non-profit organization of early childhood educators and their friends who volunteer to do what they can together to make the world a safe and more welcoming place for our children. September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows was honored to receive the Cease Organization Peace Award at the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Conference in New York City, November 21, 2002.

Pax Christi Metro New York honored September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows at its 19th Annual Peacemaker Awards Benefit Dinner at the Church of St Francis Xavier in Manhattan, May 18, 2002.

Pax Christi National Peacemaker Award

May 18, 2002

Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture Peace Site Award

May, 2002

In May, 2002, September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows was the recipient of the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture Peace Site Award.

The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture is a humanist religious organization dedicated to improving the ethical
quality of relationships in personal lives and in the world. It was declared an International Peace Site in 1983. Each year since, the Society has presented the Peace Site Award to an exemplary individual or group whose actions and ideals promote the cause of peace. Each year the Society’s Ethical Action Committee recommends a person or group to the Board to be honored with the Peace Site Award.  The Award recipient is honored at a special Sunday Platform as the featured speaker.  The work of these partners for peace informs and inspires members of the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture to continue its community efforts for peace and justice

Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture website: bsec.org

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