June 2009

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Paula Olinger: A Lifetime of Peacemaking

On April 27, Paula Olinger received the Lifetime of Peacemaking Award, given by the ICPJ. At the same ceremony, Jan Guillory, Director of the Gettysburg Community Soup Kitchen, received the Peacemaker of the Year Award. The citation speech for Paula Olinger was given by her daughter, Axa Jones. We reproduce it below. (Another generation of Olingers figures in ICPJ history; the first Peace Center office, from our foundation in 1985 to 1991, was in a building at 26 N. Washington St. that was owned by Paula’s father, George Olinger, who made it available to us rent-free.)

When I was notified that my mother, Paula Olinger, was receiving this award I was thrilled. I tend to get emotional, so I will do my best. Mom and I started The Center/El Centro in July of 1997. It is true that we both have been a part of this organization since day one; however, the idea, the belief that this was needed, was and is truly hers.

I have been so grateful to have a mentor, friend, partner and role model in my mother. I learned early on about diversity, fairness, equality, and justice. I am very blessed to have learned these lessons with such conviction and belief.

It is these principles that drive many people to do wonderful things for others. Some do this in far away villages, countries, and communities outside of our own. Paula chose to do this at home in our home town. One of the most amazing qualities in my mother is her ability to dream about something and do it. The Center/El Centro is housed in a building that has been in our family for generations. My grandfather was raised by his grandparents there, my mother and my uncles were raised there, and I remember many memories of that house as a wonderful maze of rooms, antiques, and stuff in every corner, but most of all as a home that had a safe and warm feeling.

It was after my mother inherited this building that her vision of a community center emerged. When we started in 1997 there were community meetings, art lessons, dance lessons, massages, tai chi classes, computer classes, cooking classes, and many other groups and individuals using the building weekly.

My mother’s dream was for the families and children that lived in the neighborhood to be involved in these wonderful classes. She wanted to see positive change and opportunities for the people in our own community.

We started a small tutoring program with seven to ten children that had been coming around and this aspect of the organization took off. Youth in first through eighth grades come Monday through Thursday for educational, recreational, and multi‑cultural activities. Over the last twelve years we have had the privilege of meeting over 240 children and their families and become a small part of their lives.

My mother has been the consistent force behind the mission, goals and heart of El Centro. She is a friend, confidante, organizer, disciplinarian, art teacher, tutor, fair rules enforcer, translator, taxi driver, professor, and mentor to both the children and their families as well as for the hundreds of college students who have had the opportunity to tutor at El Centro. Although she does not do any of this for recognition, she is very deserving of it, and I thank the ICPJ very much for selecting her for this wonderful honor today.

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