It has been a pleasure serving as your Treasurer this year. I accepted this position with great sadness upon the tragic and unexpected death of my predecessor, Stuart Kensinger in May 2019. Financial statements translate the story of an organization into numbers, and as such, fail to capture the emotion, purpose, and spirit of peacebuilding. I hope, as you read my report, you will remember the faces and sounds of the children and adults living amidst the conflict of war. I hope you will visualize each teacher, each youth, each brother and sister working for peace, because we share with them the great calling for service. JPB is financially healthy and well positioned for growth in 2020.
Israel's late Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, famously remarked that advancing peace between Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs was like jumping from a second-story window onto a galloping horse. In his mind, peace required exceptional leadership, involving courage, timing, resilience and planning. He was right, but his assassination on 4 November 1995 by an Israeli extremist opposed to the Oslo Peace Accords revealed that peacebuilding in the Holy Lands demands more than a bold rider. Peace in Jerusalem requires a different horse. To this end, Jerusalem Peacebuilders (JPB) operates experiential, interfaith leadership development programs that unite and empower a new generation of leaders
Bruce A. Barrett, JPB Treasurer: Bruce A. Barrett has long been an active, interfaith peacemaker. Born in Connecticut, he graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University with a B.S. in Applied History and Industrial Management. Soon after, Bruce joined his family bill-board business, Barrett Outdoor Communications Inc. In 2009, Bruce directed, edited, and produced the film, The Billboard from Bethlehem, chronicling the peace work of Combatants For Peace. Filmed on location in Israel and Palestine, the piece won the Mondavi Award for Peace and Cultural Understanding at the Napa Sonoma Film Festival. In 2010 Bruce created the IWagePeace Walk, where members of area mosques, synagogues, and churches
