The Ann Barstow and Tom Driver Award for Excellence in Nonviolent Direct Action in Retirement
This award was created in 2014 by the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship in order to specifically honor those who have taking significant risks in their retirement for the cause of nonviolent peacemaking. It is our desire to honor these leaders of our movement and to honor them in their local hometown or location where their primary peacemaking work took place. In our inaugural year, the award was named the Anne Barstow and Tom Driver to commemorate two of our key leaders in nonviolent peacemaking and the ceremony of dedication was held near New York City which was their primary place of peacemaking activities for decades.
Awardees:
- 2021: Cheryl and Doug Hunt for seeking justice through the Guns to Gardens movement, working on Gun Violence Prevention and their accompaniment offered in Colombia and Agua Prieta (Stockton, CA)
- 2020: Linda Eastwood for seeking justice in Latin America broadly, and specifically in Colombia through solidarity and advocacy through the PPF Accompaniment Program and beyond.
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2019: Merilie Robertson for visiting and advocating for migrants in detention (Encino, CA)
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2018: Rev. Peggy Howland for her commitment to intersectional justice movements, especially LGBTQ justice and peacemaking (Stony Point, NY)
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2017: Melinda Thompson for advocating for and supporting Palestinian rights and an end to the Occupation (Washington, DC)
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2016: Gene LeFebvre for supporting migrants crossing the Sonoran desert (Tucson, AZ)
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2015: Rev. Don Beisswenger for civil disobedience in protest of the School of the Americas/WHINSEC (Nashville, TN)
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2014: Anne Barstow and Rev. Tom Driver, Anne for founding the Colombia Accompaniment Program and Tom for advocating in the US for justice in Haiti
Tamara Razzano, PPF Activist Council member, presenting Merlie the Barstow-Driver award – 2019.