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Global Family Day

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Global Family Day, (One Day of Peace and Sharing Every January First) is an international day of peace and sharing celebrated every January 1 by the citizens of the world. It is a day where individuals and families share food with friends (especially the needy), make personal pledges of nonviolence, and spread a message of peace and sharing by ringing a bells or beating a drum in hopes of making society and the world a safer place to live. Global Family Day grew out of the United Nations millennium celebration, "One Day of Peace,"

History

The idea itself is difficult to pin down. Many grassroots efforts around the world had independently sprung up to target this milestone as a day for peace, and worked separately to prevail on local governments and the U.N. to establish such a day. As a result, nearly 140 nations were poised to respond to the November 1997 declaration of the U.N. General Assembly that the first year of the new millennium should launch an "International Decade for the Culture of Peace & Nonviolence for the Children of the World" which would be ushered in by "One Day of Peace." Finally, in November 1999, the U.N. issued a formal invitation for world participation. As the independent grassroots organizations around the world joined the effort, one notable outcome was a special ceremony between Israeli and Palestinian families, at a refugee camp in Nablus.

Later that year, the United States Congress followed the U.N. initiative and unanimously voted to establish the first day of every year as a special time of peace and sharing. (S.Con.Res. 138). In 2001, the United Nations General Assembly established it as a recurring annual event, also recommending that all Member states recognize the new holiday (UNRes. 56/2) To date more than 20 heads of state and many ambassadors have endorsed what has now become known as Global Family Day.

Co-founded by author Linda Grover and Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (chief sponsor of the Martin Luther King holiday), Global Family Day has twice received the unanimous support of the U.S. Congress (S. Con. Res. 138, S. Res. 582, H. Con. Res. 317), the UN General Assembly (Resolutions 54/29 and 56/2), thirty-plus sitting heads of state and ambassadors representing more than 2/3 of the worlds population.

Presently, interest in Global Family Day has been revitalized through U.S. Senate resolutions S. Res. 357 and S. Res. 387 urging the people of the United States to observe Global Family Day and One Day of Peace and Sharing and U.S. House of Representatives resolution H. Con. Res. 221, requesting that the President issue a proclamation annually calling upon the people of the United States to observe Global Family Day, One Day of Peace and Sharing, and for other purposes.

In 2005, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Family Life Institute Dr. Milton A. Reid, Chairman and Cassandra West, President (140TH Year Anniversary Celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation) was invited to the United Nations for the support of Global Family Day for International Day of Families[1]. Congratulations for the effort of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Family Life Institute, work, on Global Family Day from Eric Olsen, Focal Point on the Family, Division for Social Policy and Development, at the United Nations, for the successful final push for "Global Family Day". On September 26, 2006, President Bush issued a Presidential Proclamation for Family Day, as special request, of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Family Life Institute, to the White House, Faith Based Initiatives office.

The organization's mission is to unite, inform, motivate, and connect people, institutions, and governments of the world through the celebration of this day of peace and sharing every January 1 and related year round programs.

Present and former Heads of State in support

106-109th United States Congress sponsors of the peace-seeking holiday

GLOBAL FAMILY DAY, One Day of Peace and Sharing Every January first

Senate

Wellstone (Chief Sponsor) Reid Kennedy* Lieberman Landrieu* Levin Moynihan Inouye* (Chief Sponsor) Coleman* Akaka Feinstein

House of Representatives

Blumenauer Brown, C* Carson* Chandler Christiansen* Cleaver Conyers (Chief Sponsor)* Crowley Cummings** Davis English Evans** Filner* Frost* Granger Green Grijalva Gutierrez Hall Hinchey Honda Jackson** Jackson Lee** Jones Kanjorski Kaptur Kilpatrick Kucinich (chief sponsor)** LaFalce Lantos* Lee McDermott McGovern McKinney Meeks* Millender-McDonald Morella Nadler* Napolitano Norton** Owens** Pallone Pascrell Payne* Rangel Sanders Schakowsky Schiff Serrano Smith, A. Solis Towns Sherman Udall Udall Van Hollen Walsh Watson Watt Wexler Wynn*

Committee Chairs

Hatch Gilman Hyde Specter

*sponsored more than once

External links

  1. ^ http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/family/
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