Peace Hero 2025
Pez Davila
your 2025 peace hero award finalists have been decided!
And the nominees are…
Mary Carlson
Thomas Morgan
Miles Pham
Aaron Gelinaeu
Corbin Newman
Tone Lanzillo
Joanna Green
Aaron O'Leary
Brittany Hamm
CJ Osuchukwu
Ed Lewis
Jenna Griffith
Susan Bridges
Jill Lofald
Carl Soderbergh
Therese Gruba
Jim Gruba
Tori Thrash
Tiffany Fenner
Phillip Homere
Ivy Vainio
Tie Hennessey
Airlea Defoe
Rev Charlotte Frantz
Pez Davila
Natylee Anderson
Tim Grover
Rajon Gamble
Zelalem Oestreich
Illeni Hirt
Eva Kerns-Baladad
Bridger Oestreich
Wylan Ausing
Aspen Herbert
Jaxton Krohn
Samantha Kapaun
Ashlie Castaldo
Emeri Degenstein
Kitty Hoden
Aparna Katre
Jake Oestreich
Jes-wa’ Harris
Marlon Grant
Kim Randolph
Meghan Sperl
Marit Knutson
Ali Randall
Asher Carlson
Jebeh Edmunds
Kim Curtis-Monson
Ray Gamble
Zeppelyn Warren
Ross Tollgard
Jess Morgan
Ryan Clark
Deyona Kirk
Mike Waldron
Lara Montgomery
Jesse Switters
Dane Jensen
Sally Rollins
Jean Brandt
Azrin Awal
Carla Hamilton
Michelle Defoe
Lisa Nicholson
Jenny Everett
Anne Parish
Diana Oestreich
Clint Considine
Lawson Alexander
And your 2025 finalists!
Tiffany Fenner
Phillip Homere
Ivy Vainio
Tie Hennessey
Airlea Defoe
Pez Davila
Tori Thrash
Rev Charlotte Frantz
RSVP & Join us for the 3rd annual Peace Hero AwarD!
Monday, November 2 @ 6 pm
Lincoln Park Middle School
3215 W 3rd St, Duluth
Last year, on the eve of election day, over 150 people packed into a community celebration to honor Duluth’s second Peace Hero. With more than 100 nominations—from teenagers to elders—the stories revealed what national news misses: peace is alive, local, and led by ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
This year, Duluth is invited once again to nominate a neighbor, coworker, or friend for the $1,000 Peace Hero Award. Nominations open September 21 and close October 20 at midnight. The winner will be announced at the Awards Ceremony with the whole community on November 2 at Lincoln Park Middle School.
Instead of letting violence define us, let’s amplify the stories of people who are making positive change right here, right now.
Think about someone in your school, workplace, or neighborhood who’s quietly making a positive change for others. Teachers, teens, neighbors, coworkers—everyday heroes who make others safer, kinder, and stronger.
These are the stories that don’t hit the news, but do deserve a spotlight—and a $1,000 cash prize to put honor on their hard work and highlight the power of peace to make ripples across Duluth. Waging peace is celebrating the unseen peacemakers among us—neighbors, teachers, and everyday heroes who show us what peace looks like in action.
Violence doesn’t define us; our actions do.
Together, let’s make peace louder than violence.
You make it all happen!
There is no corporate backing or big organization behind the Peace Hero Awards.
It’s a labor of love. We are volunteering our nights, weekends and Kids. Everything you see here is made possible by donated time and money.
Peace is our Purpose, not in our job descriptions.
Let’s give a huge shout-out and thank you to Friends of The Waging Peace Project!
Ivy Vaino, Mivikin Design, Neighborhood Church, Bing Huo, Saadia Qureshi, The Taylor Family, St Paul’s Episcopal Church, Melissa Parks, Duluth Cider, Marshall Hardware, StoryNorth Productions, Duluth Coffee Company, The Atrium, Midcoast Catering, Jean Brandt, Nyasha Spears, Leisa Macdonald, Joan Bellin, Deitrich Winter, Aparna katrie, Sarah Seidleman, Sandra Nordea, Rachel Thapa.
We are so grateful for these amazing volunteers who donated their time:
Lyndsey Johnson Kris Sauter Jake Oestreich Shelly Bruecken Anaya Delich
Lauri Johnson Bridger Oestreich Zelalem Oestreich Ethan Johnson Kaiya Pursi
Bree Thompson Nyasha Spears Terri Drahn Jamie Jadzewski Nancy Cameron
The Duluth Peace Hero Award is honored to be supported and funded by the legacy of The Freda and Leo Pfeffer Peace Award through the Fellowship of Reconciliation, an organization created on the eve of WWI, dedicated to nonviolent social change—one of the few organizations that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr joined in his lifetime.