A Celebration of Peacemakers 2024

On Sunday, May 5th, we gathered at South Puget Sound Community College's Lacey Campus for A Celebration of Peacemakers. This event honored our volunteers, supporters, advocates, and community partners - all those whose efforts help create a more civil and peaceful community. 

Highlights of the afternoon were a special tribute to Jody Suhrbier Leff, who is leaving the DRC after nearly eight years as its Executive Director, and presentation of the of the Evan Ferber Peacemaker Leadership Award to Rev. Corey Passons, Interfaith Relations Program Manager at Olympia's Interfaith Works. 

---

Scroll down to view the photo gallery!

---

Jody Suhrbier Leff

DRC Executive Director

Tribute to Jody - Click to read

Empowering. Caring. Innovative. Courageous. These words describe Jody, who has led the Dispute Resolution Center since 2016. During her time at the helm, she has been instrumental in the DRC’s growth and transformation, including significant increases in funding, staff, volunteers, services, and the number of people served each year.

A strong collaborative partner on the local, state and national levels, Jody served as Co-president, and later as Interim Executive Director, for Resolution Washington, the network of Washington’s 21 DRCs, and as a board member for the National Association for Community Mediation. Her advocacy efforts helped secure a significant increase in state funding for DRCs across Washington state.

Jody oversaw the DRC’s office move to its current West Olympia location, and then the further expansion of that space. Most significantly, she successfully navigated the DRC through the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the expansion of resources to address the eviction crisis, and re-envisioning mediation and training services to provide these resources online.

We applaud Jody for all she’s done to advance the mission of the DRC and wish her the best in her future endeavors.

Rev. Corey Passons

2024 Evan Ferber Peacemaker Leadership Award Recipient

Tribute to COrey - CLICK TO READ

An ordained Minister in the United Church of Christ, and Minister with Community for Interfaith Celebration, Corey has served as Interfaith Relations Program Manager at Olympia’s Interfaith Works since 2020. In this role he seeks to deepen connection,
understanding, and collaboration among the 30+ diverse congregations and affiliated organizations that make up Interfaith Works, to expand these efforts into the wider community.
​
The work that perhaps best exemplifies Corey’s commitment to promoting dialog, restorative justice and healing is an annual event called Resetting Our Sacred Table. Through collaboration with members of local tribes and acknowledging the legacy of colonization and suffering of indigenous peoples, this initiative re-thinks and re-casts Thanksgiving with the metaphor of the table as a place of community, sharing and nourishment for all.

Corey is guided by his commitment to strengthening civil discourse and civic harmony as a means to deepen relationships, especially where there are disparate histories and perceptions. His efforts to educate the greater community on historic injustice, and to foster healing and growth, are especially important during this time of ideological divides.

Thank you, Corey, for your dedication to this important work.

---

To read a special profile of Rev. Corey Passons and the Peacemaker Award recently published in Thurston Talk, Click here to follow the article! ​

---