9/24/2016 Friendship Walk: Join us at the Myriad Gardens, 2:00 PM

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Oklahoma City Myriad Gardens Site of the first OKC Friendship Walk
Celebrating the United Nations International Day of Peace which occurs on a yearly basis on 9/21

The first OKC Friendship Walk will be on Saturday, September 24th, 2pm, at the Myriad Gardens in Oklahoma City. The walk will be a part of the Turkish Festival, and it will demonstrate the rich diversity of Oklahoma's communities as well as our commitment to building a culture of peace and friendship. It will commemorate the International Day of Peace (9/21) as proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations. 

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Everyone is invited to participate -- there is no charge for admission to the festival, and the only requirement for walkers is to maintain a positive attitude and a peaceful demeanor. Flags, signs, banners are welcome, as well as expressions of support for the sustainable development of our planet in a global culture of peace. We might also offer a special word of encouragement to the people of Turkey who are suffering from the erosion of human and civil rights in their country. Peace, freedom, and human rights go hand in hand. 

 The Myriad Gardens will promote the events through their social media kits. 

Walk speakers: Sinead Maguina... will introduce the speakers and give instructions to the walkers.   The Executive Director of Myriad Garden Foundation Maureen Heffernan (405) 445-7081 mheffernan@myriadgardens.org and  Kuaybe Basturk ... Interfaith Dialog Institute , and Aamr Hasanjee ... International Students Association, UCO will welcome the walkers.

OKC Friendship Walk Board Meeting Minutes
by Bill Bryant, United Nations Association of Greater Oklahoma, Communication Director

To the Planning Team for
International Day of Peace
September, 2016 -- Metro OKC

Please join our next planning session. It will be:

Wednesday, August 10th -- 6pm
Raindrop Turkish House 
4444 N. Classen Blvd 
Oklahoma City, OK   73118

At our meeting on July 27th were: Kadir and Enes from the Raindrop Turkish House, Kuaybe Basturk (the new director of the Dialog Institute), Moses & Sadie Mast, Priya Desai, Joan Korenblit, Sinead Maguina, Steve McLinn, Michelle Rodriguez, Richard White, Bill Bryant, and Carmen Clay (via telephone).

We enjoyed a wonderful spread of delicious food. The people of the Raindrop Turkish House are famous for their hospitality, and we appreciate them so much!

Getting down to business, we reviewed plans for our Friendship Walk. It will be on Saturday, September 24th, 2pm, at the Myriad Gardens in Oklahoma City. The walk will be a part of the Turkish Festival, and it will demonstrate the rich diversity of Oklahoma's communities as well as our commitment to building a culture of peace and friendship. It will commemorate the International Day of Peace as proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations.

We're inviting everyone to participate -- there is no charge for admission to the festival, and the only requirement for walkers is to maintain a positive attitude and a peaceful demeanor. Flags, signs, banners are welcome, as well as expressions of support for the sustainable development of our planet in a global culture of peace. I think we might also offer a special word of encouragement to the people of Turkey who are suffering from the erosion of human and civil rights in their country. Peace, freedom, and human rights go hand in hand.

To begin our walk, we will have several spoken messages. Speakers will include:

Kuaybe Basturk ... Dialog Institute
Aamr Hasanjee ... International Students Association, UCO
Maureen Hefferman ... Executive Director of the Myriad Gardens

Sinead Maguina agreed to speak as well. She will introduce the speakers and give instructions to the walkers.

Flute and drum will be provided by Steve McLinn and (we hope) Albert Gray Eagle.

Should we have another speaker at the conclusion of the walk? I don't know. It's just a thought. Plans are still developing. At our next meeting we will certainly want to develop our action plan for outreach and publicity. Please plan to join us!

A big "Thank You!" to Kadir for reaching out to the Myriad Gardens on our behalf.

Join us on the 10th, and we'll take the next steps forward.

I hope to see you then!

--Bill