PeaceWorks gives awards to individuals, groups

Part of the excitement of each PeaceWorks Annual Meeting is the conveying of awards. This picture shows an award given by Jim Hannah to Eyyup Esen of The Dialogue Institute.
Jim Hannah, right, on March 3, 2024, gives Eyyup Esen the Bebb Award for founding and leading The Dialogue Institute, furthering communication among Turkish Americans and the community in KC.--Photo by Kriss Avery

PeaceWorks KC has given the Charles E. Bebb Peace Merit Award to an individual since 1991. The award is named for Bebb, one of three men who formed the committee in 1982 that eventually became PeaceWorks. The award honors the recipient “for outstanding service in the cause of peace,”–high praise!

In 2011, PeaceWorks added an annual award for groups that build peace in the local community. The Kris and Lynn Cheatum Community Peace Award takes its name from former leaders of PeaceWorks, and Lynn was one of the three founders of the committee that evolved into PeaceWorks.

The awards are given at the PeaceWorks KC Annual Meeting. Below are the award recipients thus far.

YearBebb AwardCheatum Award



2024Eyyup EsenAl-Hadaf KC
2023Alvin BrooksMiracle of Innocence
2022(No award)KC Tenants
2021(No award: pandemic)No award (pandemic)
2020Bette Tate-BeaverAim4Peace
2019Lu MountenayLearning Club of Kansas City Kansas
2018Maurice CopelandCherith Brook Catholic Worker House
2017Barbara McCrackenStand Up KC
2016Georgia WalkerKC Chapter, Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
2015Dee Berry, Ben KjelshusKKFI 90.1 FM
2014Louis RodemannAmerican Friends Service Committee KC Office
2013Rachel MacNairCommunity Mediation Center of Kansas City
2012Jane StoeverUrban Ranger Corps
2011Yolanda Huet-VaughnAll Souls Unitarian Universalist Church
2010Ann Suellentrop
2009Steve Iliff
2008Ira Haritt
2007Henry Stoever
2006Don McClain
2005Mary McNellis
2004Linda McNicholas
2003Pat Kenoyer
2002Patti Nelson, Lewis Diuguid
2001Susanne Marshall, John Harris
2000???
1999Tom Holle
1998Dave Pack
1997Wayne Sangster
1996Candy Murphy (now Corva)
1995Marj Palmer
1994Pat Soden
1993Karen Bailey Navarro
1992Kris Cheatum

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Part of the excitement of each PeaceWorks Annual Meeting is the conveying of awards. This picture shows an award given by Jim Hannah to Eyyup Esen of The Dialogue Institute.

February 2, 2025 |

 Spencer Graves

PeaceWorks gives awards to individuals, groups

List of PeaceWorks awardees from 1991 on

Cheatum Community Peace Award goes to KC Tenants

“We are humbled!” said Diane Charity, accepting an award for KC Tenants at PeaceWorks’ Annual Meeting March 6. She thanked PeaceWorks and spoke of the group she helped found: “KC Tenants wants to ensure everyone has an affordable home. Many of our people are priced out of a home.”

Rashid Junaid receives award for Aim4Peace from PeaceWorks

Aim4Peace won the Kris and Lynn Cheatum Community Peace Award from PeaceWorks-KC March 1. Accepting the award for Aim4Peace was Rashid Junaid, commenting, “We have to remove the guns that are flowing into our city. We have to talk about how we’re feeding the violence, not turning off the violence.”

Bette Tate-Beaver receives Bebb Peace Merit Award

Bette Tate-Beaver, executive director of the National Association for Multicultural Education, received the Charles E. Bebb Peace Merit Award from PeaceWorks-KC March 1. She said she came from a family that has sought to create the beloved community for five generations.