Annual Peace Race takes place at Kelly Park in Fort Worth September 19

by PegNews wire

FORT WORTH — The annual Peace Race enters its second year at Kelly Park in Fort Worth on Saturday September 19, once again commemorating the United Nations' International Day of Peace, and supporting local programs for at-risk youth and a national call for a U.S. Department of Peace in the federal government.

Runners and walkers will leave the starting line at 8 a.m., benefiting The Peace Alliance, a nationwide grassroots network of supporters of House Bill HR808, which would establish a U.S. Department of Peace to prevent and intervene on violence -- and engage in proactive peace-building -- both internationally and within the U.S. domestically.

This year, in an effort to engage in proactive peace-building now and through supporting the kinds of local programs the proposed U.S. Department of Peace would research, develop, and implement in communities nationwide in the future, the Peace Race will also benefit The Safe City Commission's Bright Futures anti-gang program and its Juvenile Witness Intervention program in Fort Worth.

Race coordinator Kim McLaughlin, owner of The Fort Worth Center for the Healing Arts, became inspired to bring the race to Fort Worth after attending Department of Peace conferences at Southern Methodist University and in Washington, DC.

"Momentum is building for reestablishing the kinds of communities we all want to live in, and setting the U.S. back on a path of world leadership," she said, speaking in her healing center's Southside neighborhood near downtown Fort Worth, "but federal legislation to create a Department of Peace will only become law when a wave of American citizens makes themselves heard in the halls of Congress."

The timed-chip Peace Race will feature a 5K walk/run and a 1K kids' run, plus live music from the Josh Tatum band, booths, awards, and food and drinks.

Runners are may sign-up individually or in teams. Registration is available online at www.getmeregistered.com or in person at the Fort Worth Running Company, 5800 Camp Bowie, the day before the race.

Late registration will also be available the morning of the race, beginning at 6:30 a.m., and a yoga warm up will begin at 7:30 a.m.

Kelly Park is located on Rockwood Park Drive in northeast Fort Worth. Parking lots at the baseball fields immediately south of the race site will be open to Peace Race participants this year.

Runners can raise money to support The Peace Alliance and The Safe City Commission's Bright Futures and Juvenile Witness Intervention programs by asking friends and family to make on-line donations to The Peace Race here.

For more runner/walker information, as well as how you or your company can become a sponsor of the second annual Peace Race, call 817-717-5555 or visit www.ThePeaceRace.com.

Source: Peace Race