This essay was written by Mary Sharrow, a Peace4Tarpon board member. My daughter, Candace, taught 5th then 3rd grade at an inner city Baltimore elementary school through Teach For America. It was trial by fire her first year, as this was a struggling school and many students had a trauma history. It is Teach For America’s mission to place teachers in the most needy schools. Candace was very enthusiastic, but didn’t know much about trauma and its effects, other than what she intuitively felt...

“The ones who tell the stories shape and rule the world.” Hopi Wisdom The power of stories has fascinated me for many years; telling stories, hearing stories, being read stories, all of it! A few weeks ago, I attended M’ellen Kennedy’s daylong workshop “The Sacred Art of Storytelling.” M’ellen is a Unitarian Universalist minister who is known for “preaching from the heart.” That means she speaks without a script and also teaches other ministers how to do the same. What she really does is...

The Help Yourself to Help Others Summit for First Responders was held on the St. Petersburg College - Tarpon Springs’ campus on Saturday, April 30, 2016. Peace4Tarpon partnered with the college to bring this free event to area first responders: law enforcement, fire rescue, emergency medical technicians, providers, students and community. Associate Provost Rod Davis welcomed the participants to the campus and Peace4Tarpon Director Robin Saenger opened the summit by thanking the first...