The Waldo County Peace Activist Award was conceived in April of 2005 by David Demere as an active expression of his desire "to promote peace and social justice now and after I pass on." Already in the second of his seven years of living with cancer, David himself brought a lifelong commitment to promoting nonviolence and peace in the world. As his health improved somewhat in the Spring of 2005, his hope was to stimulate young people to think about pursuing the study and practice of peace as well as to support a few in actually doing so. To that end, he and his family donated the first seed money for the award and encouraged others to contribute as well. Dozens of local individuals and organizations responded, including Waldo County Peace and Justice Committee, Veterans for Peace, Belfast Area Friends Meeting, Belfast Unitarian Universalist Church, and the First Church of Belfast.
Each Spring students from the various Waldo County high schools who have been engaged in some form of peace activity are encouraged to apply for support from the WCPAA Committee. The first two Awards were granted in May of 2005, and over the past six years ten young people from three different high schools have received a total of over $11,000 for activities ranging from volunteer relief work in Sri Lanka and in Africa to helping support peace related studies at colleges and universities from Bates and Colby, Presque Isle and Machais to Georgetown, Earlham and Mt. Holyoke.
It is altogether fitting now that the Peace Activist Award become a Memorial for David as he had originally envisioned years ago. Donations may be made out to the WCPAA's fiscal agent, "Belfast Area Friends Meeting," with the memo notation "Peace Award" and should be mailed c/o C.Biebel, Treasurer, 242 Fisher Road, Monroe, ME 04951.
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