USA - The Global Peace Festival in Washington, DC, on August 9, 2008 was a kick-off to a sustained US campaign in many other cities. A key theme and challenge to those mobilized by the Festival campaign was a call to “A Million Acts of Service and Kindness.” The event was organized by many groups, and led by the Universal Peace Federation. The Points of Light Institute was a founding partner and has led the Million Acts efforts, along with its many Kids Care Clubs and Volunteer Centers. Across the world, it is the efforts of unsung individuals who catch the dream and seek to change their communities who really make the difference.

New York, USA - The Global Peace Festival hosted an interfaith, intercultural celebration in New York City on October 23 at the historic Manhattan Center, one of the city's most renowned performance venues.

Los Angeles, USA - The Global Peace Festival on October 9 in Los Angeles capped a 21-day focus on peace events that included the annual ringing of the United Nations Peace Bell at Maguire Gardens in Central Los Angeles, an International Day of Peace Speech and Drawing Contest, Prayers for Peace at the Pasadena City College Campus, “Pinwheels for Peace” at the Monrovia Coffee Company, “Kites for Peace” by the Brahma-Kumari sisters, a tree planting at the Malibu Canyon Peace Center, a Women’s Federation for World Peace event supporting African schools, a “Clean Slate” presentation for inner peace among inner-city youth, and a kaleidoscope of other significant and colorful events designed to promote a culture of peace.

An Atlanta lawyer who attended the Global Peace Festival August 9 in Washington, DC, returned home to organize service activities to bring together local young people for the sake of peace. As a federal attorney and founder of the mentoring group “Brother to Brother,” Sheila Arnum had seen the effect that divisions in society have on young people, and the Global Peace Festival gave her new hope.

In preparation for the October 7 Global Peace Festival in Atlanta, Mrs. Arnum organized weekly opportunities for young people to make friends with people they would not ordinarily meet and experience the joy of doing good for others. The Saturday before the festival, 400 people young and old alike came together to clean Washington Park in Atlanta, working harmoniously as a sea of blue “Global Peace Festival” T-shirts.

Pasadena, California - On Saturday, August 9, 500 people gathered at the First Congregational Church in Pasadena, California, to celebrate the Global Peace Festival together with our brothers and sisters in Washington, D.C., as well as other remote locations.

Thousands of followers of various faiths gathered on the Mall on Saturday evening for the Global Peace Festival, an event to promote cooperation among the world's religious leaders.

The festival, held on the West Lawn of the Capitol, represents the launch of a long-term initiative by more than 150 faith- and community-based organizations to advocate for peace and unity worldwide.

"We are here to let the world know that we can be together," said the Rev. Paul Murray, executive director of GPF USA. "It's all about compassion. It's all about peace. We can change our world."

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Washington DC - The United Nations should adopt part of the U.S. Declaration of Independence in its charter, a leader of the Global Peace Festival said in Washington Saturday.

That would guarantee fundamental human rights, Hyun-jin Moon, GPF co-chairman, told an audience of thousands at the National Mall. The idea that we are "endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights" means that human rights cannot be abridged by governments, he said.

Washington, D.C. – Thousands of peacemakers came to celebrate peace on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol Saturday at the Global Peace Festival USA. The gathering, billed as the largest interfaith and multicultural event ever held in Washington D.C., was the second in a series of fifteen Global Peace Festivals this year, with the next planned for late August in Nairobi, Kenya. “The great thing about the Festival is that it brings people together with neighbors from other faiths and cultures in a safe encounter,” said the Festival’s executive director, Paul Murray, pastor of a fast-growing church in Baltimore. “When people see Muslims and Jews from Jerusalem and other trouble spots embracing each other in tears of forgiveness and reconciliation on the stage, they naturally reach out right away with those of other faiths in the crowd.”