(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — It wasn't long after the 9/11 terrorist attacks when Gretchen Grad got started on Hands for Peace, a peace-building program she founded in 2002 centered around youth engagement.
Grad said the program brings high school students from the Middle-East to Chicago to meet, talk, and bond with the teens here in the United States.
Many of students who arrive in the U.S., she said, come from areas that are deeply divided by conflict, culture, geography, and history. A majority of the teens are from Palestine and Israel.
“Even though they live in close proximity, they have very little day-to-day interaction with one another," Grad said. "They live completely separate lives. They all come from trauma-filled lives.”
In 2022, 20 years after Grad first started the program, 70 students have been staying with host families in Chicago and in San Diego. They will return home next week.
Before they leave, though, students staying in the Chicago-area will have a ceremonial farewell at Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook.
The evening will include an “Art for Peace” exhibit, featuring pieces created by the program's participants.
Worldwide, Hands of Peace now has more than 700 alumni living and working for peace across the United States, Israel and the Palestinian West Bank.
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