For the fourth time in five years I did the Atlantic Plunge on New Year’s Day. This is an annual fundraising event, during which a couple hundred Mainiacs actually jump into the ocean at Gooch’s Beach. This year the water was warmer than usual – a balmy 42 degrees. However, the air was quite cold - by some accounts the coldest ever. It was 8 degrees outside and quite windy; in fact, I heard on the news that night that the wind chill made it feel like 8 degrees below zero.

The Atlantic Plunge is sponsored by Caring Unlimited, York County’s Domestic Violence Program; yet various participants, including myself, have used this event to raise money for other causes, too. During the first two years, I raised about $1,500 for Caring Unlimited; last year I raised $7,800 for Pathways To Peace, a global peacebuilding organization. I am one of the crazier Mainiacs who always double dips. Yes, after coming all the way out of the water, I actually run in and submerge myself again. There are usually about half a dozen of us; this year I was the only one. This year I sent an e-mail to more than 200 friends asking them to double dip with me. In other words, to send two checks - one to Caring Unlimited and one to Pathways To Peace. 

I am not an official spokesperson for Caring Unlimited, so I feel somewhat uncomfortable saying too much about their programs. I do know that they have been around for more than 20 years and that they help thousands of women every year through several worthwhile programs that address issues related to domestic violence. They provide emergency shelter, transitional housing and services, legal services and advocacy, support groups, teen dating violence prevention and intervention, and community education; and they have a volunteer program. One personal reason that I wanted to raise funds for Caring Unlimited this year is because a woman I knew was killed by her husband last year. Nicole Oliver worked at the Coffee Gourmet in Lafayette Center several years ago, when I worked at a business that was in the same building. Nicole always had a bright smile and friendly disposition; and we got to know each other by first name and occasionally chatted about life, while she was preparing my lunch or coffee. I didn’t know much about her personal life; but I do know that her husband shot her then turned the gun on himself, leaving their two young children to be cared for by relatives. This came as a shock to me and to others who knew her; it seemed so unfair and unjust. One of the primary goals of Caring Unlimited, of course, is to prevent such situations from occurring. For more information on Caring Unlimited, please go to their Web site, www.caring-unlimited.org.

The other organization that is dear to my heart is Pathways To Peace; I can speak for this organization in depth because I now do a lot of volunteer work for them. In 2007 on Sept. 21, which is the United Nations’ International Day of Peace, I awoke with the inspiration to ask calendar publishers to add the UN International Day of Peace to their calendars. Being the director of sales and marketing for a large calendar publisher myself, I was able to contact about 20 of the largest U.S. based calendar publishers during that one day and enlist them to do this for their 2009 calendars (the 2008s were already in stores). The next day I realized that we were going to reach about a hundred million people, and I began to realize the scope involved. Since then I have taken this worldwide and enlisted hundreds of calendar publishers around the world to also do this. For Sept. 21, 2009 we could reach a billion people! By 2010 it could be two billion. 

During this same time period, I also became very involved with Pathways To Peace, an NGO (non government organization) created by the people who originally brought the idea for a ‘day of peace’ to the UN 28 years ago; and, I have now been to the UN several times as a representative for Pathways To Peace. Pathways To Peace has both Consultative and Peace Messenger status with the UN and is also the International Secretariat for the Culture of Peace Initiative, a group of about 3,000 NGOs working on various peace building initiatives worldwide. In this capacity Pathways To Peace works with the UN Deptartment of Public Information to promote observances of the International Day of Peace worldwide. Pathways To Peace has nurtured “Peace Day” from a single event of a few hundred people in San Francisco 27 years ago to this past year’s observances, which involved hundreds of millions of people from thousands of organizations all over the planet – and ranged from ceasefires, to volunteer work, to cultural celebrations, to school activities, to religious observances. In the past two years, ceasefires on the International Day of Peace between NATO and the Taliban have enabled Doctors Without Borders, CARE and UNICEF to provide 2.6 million polio vaccinations to children in Afghanistan, and have demonstrated what can happen if people stop fighting. This year, there were programs in more than 2,500 schools in more than 100 countries. The World Council of Churches was involved; so was the Vatican and the Gandhi Foundation and Amnesty International.

There were ‘peace vigils’ in every nation on the planet; I even read about one in Iran. It’s a rather significant event; and it has huge potential. 

Now that the International Day of Peace will be on calendars worldwide, the doors are open for an annual observance involving all levels of government worldwide, additional types of non profit organizations, and more schools and religious organizations; and to expand to include businesses and professionals, the media and the internet, as well as more people and families - creating a groundswell of humanity from all segments of society. One point worth mentioning is that many of the organizations involved use this occasion to promote their individual causes: human rights, equality, the environment, disarmament, poverty, hunger, health care, conflict resolution, universal education, and fair trade. We believe that this annual observance can have both global and historic implications. For more information go to www.internationaldayofpeace.org or www.pathwaystopeace.org or contact me.

Contributions to both Caring Unlimited and Pathways To Peace are tax deductible, and can be made via their web sites, or people can send a check to me and I will forward it to them. Speaking of double dipping, a very dear friend has offered to match dollar for dollar the first $3,000 that I raise for Pathways To Peace; he did this last year, too. So far this year, I have raised about $500 for Caring Unlimited and $4,000 for Pathways To Peace (including the entire matching amount). Contributions usually continue to arrive until the end of January.

May the new year bring peace, hope and other blessings to people everywhere.

Melvin Weiner

West Kennebunk