Pampering for Peace fundraiser Sept. 26

RED BANK — Indulge yourself and promote world peace at a wellness fair Sept. 26 at the United Methodist Church, 247 Broad St. in Red Bank.

The wellness event is sponsored by Where Peace Lives, a nonprofit organization that provides conflict resolution and peace-building training for children and teens.

Pampering for Peace, which will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., is designed to encourage people to treat themselves to massage therapy, reflexology, reiki and more, all while helping raise money to teach kids to make the world a better place.

Aside from getting a massage, attendees of the event will have the opportunity to get advice from vendors such as chiropractors and personal trainers and will be able to buy all-natural soaps and other goods to add to the quality of their lives. All proceeds will go to Where Peace Lives.

For the past three years, as part of a worldwide initiative sponsored by Where Peace Lives, students at various local schools in New Jersey and abroad have been creating murals for peace and exchanging them with each other.

Where Peace Lives launched the International Peace Mural Exchange Project in 2006 with the goal of becoming the largest cultural art exchange ever undertaken, while at the same time providing anger management and conflict resolution training to the kids creating the murals.

"There are two important aspects to this project," Donna Clapp, executive director, said in a press release. "The first is that the students learn conflict resolution and mediation tools they can use in their everyday life. The second is the cultural learning that takes place when the murals are exchanged. Students come to realize that as human beings, we have many similar concerns and similar ways to make peace. By learning this, they become citizens of the world and future peacemakers."

Through working on such art activities as "what's peaceful to me and what's not," students get in touch with how the choices they make can affect the culture of peace at home and at school.

For more information about the event or about Where Peace Lives, contact Donna Clapp at 732-859-7637, dclapp@wherepeacelives. org, www.wherepeacelives.org, or call event coordinator Ivonne Treacy at 908-902-8680.