Service For Peace IL Chapter

HISTORY: Service For Peace (SFP) began in 2002 when 300 international youth volunteers from across the United States, converged on Washington, DC, to participate in a summer program that involved a total of 40,000 hours of service and, according to the Washington Post, saved the District $400,000. This program later evolved into SFP Summer of Service, one of the many programs offered by SFP today.

The organization’s signature program is the Martin Luther King Jr. Season of Service, through which SFP partners and chapters engaged 66,562 volunteers in 857 projects in 19 cities in 2007, thereby “Advancing the Dream for Peaceful Communities.”

Realizing the need for improving communities worldwide, Service For Peace has expanded into 27 nations, introducing people of all ages to the rewarding experience of bringing renewal to their communities and nations through service, learning, leadership development, and sustainable improvements.

MISSION STATEMENT: Service and Learning with a Global Peace Perspective - Service For Peace is an independent nonprofit organization providing service and learning opportunities through community projects which promote transformational and sustainable personal and community development around the world. We bring together people and partners of diverse faiths, ethnicities, nationalities, generations, and cultures to address profound social needs by discovering commonality and genuine appreciation for differences – all through service. We believe that peace begins with the inner peace fostered by service to others and that active cooperation provides the foundation and the real hope for peace.

Mission Principles: • Provide meaningful service and learning projects. • Turn transformation into peacemaking. • Build bridges and sustainable relationships among diverse groups of people. • Reduce prejudice and discrimination. • Break the cycle of poverty. • Encourage participants & partners to think globally and act locally • Promote peace with a global perspective. • Provide a foundation upon which to build a definitive vision of peace.