Dear Vibeke,

2023 Canada/USA Summer Route

The Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run is a global torch relay that offers everyone in the world a chance to express their longing for peace. www.peacerun.org

Since its founding in 1987, the Run has visited almost every country on earth – over 150 nations and territories – and touched the lives of millions of people.

The torch is passed from hand to hand, from person to person, as we travel from nation to nation. Hundreds of thousands of individuals, from schoolchildren to heads of state, have shared the joy of this experience.

2023 Canada/USA Summer Route: the Peace Run will pass through towns and cities in Ontario and Quebec including Montreal, Ottawa, Kingston, Toronto and Niagara Falls as part of a relay run from New York to Chicago starting on July 13th and ending on August 10th.

Peace Run

Visits Hesperus

Resident Mark McAlister (left) met Shivram over 40 years ago and it was a chance encounter three weeks before the team arrived in Ontario that lead to this special Peace Run gathering at Hesperus.

Mark presented four pages of Peace messages to the runners. Click here to read the messages.

Chris Ainsworth (right), Councillor for Ward 4 in Vaughan shares the torch with Sudhir Gandhi, Chair of the Hesperus Board of Directors.

Smiling behind Sudhir & Chris in blue, stand the peace runners representing many different countries.

“For the Hesperus community it was indeed a very satisfying and humbling experience, briefly hosting the peace runners and other participants from Peace Run and making some modest contributions to the peace initiatives around us, the world we live in. Our sincere thanks to Member of Provincial Parliament MPP Laura Smith for sending a powerful peace message for the participants, in promoting tolerance and acceptance, resolving conflicts peacefully, simply showing kindness to those around us and working together. Thanks to Councillor Chris Ainsworth for his encouragement and active participation. A big thanks to Mark McAlister for all his efforts in coordinating the Peace Run to take its path through the Hesperus Campus.

Many of us had a chance to hold the sacred Peace Torch which is relayed in over 100 countries by the Peace Run Organizers.

It was of course very interesting to learn about the long time association of Mark with Shivaram Trichur (Coordinator, Sri Chinmoy Oneness- Home Peace Run) and from the participating peace runners and peace ambassadors from so many nationalities and from different walks of life coming together for the 2023 Canada/ USA Summer Peace Run.

Peace is the biggest asset and hope for the entire humanity in the complex world we live in.” Sudhir Gandhi, Chair, Hesperus Board of Directors

Residents & friends join in singing songs of Peace!

The peace runners come from many different countries. They ask the audience to guess which country they are from. Fun clues are given and twelve different countries are named. With prayers and good will, the Peace Torch is passed from hand to hand.

“A heartfelt Thank You to all who made it possible to host the Peace Run event at Hesperus, a harmonious, fun-filled hour. It was a joy and privilege to carry the torch for a few moments, a symbol for the flame within us that inherently by its true nature desires to be peaceful.

Frankly, I was close to tears a few times, being reminded how little would be necessary to bring peace into the world, if we allowed our hearts and minds to be still and live in a state of balance. From that place of balance it is possible to take into account in our actions the need of the whole, and bit by bit the very much needed changes on earth could/will happen.

Thinking of the Peace Runners - I am certain they have planted many seeds around the world toward that end - or beginning - and in due time we will see and experience the fruits of their dedication and run. Thank you to all of them. Let's keep running, each in our individual way and expression.” Margarete Palmer, Hesperus resident

New Team Members Welcome

We are delighted to have residents, staff, board members and friends signing up for the virtual walk. One of our staff has even committed to joining the in-person walk downtown. The rest of us are happy to do what they call the virtual walk, where we can walk or run any time during the month of October. Here is the link to see our current team which is always changing as more people join. Through this link you can also sponsor any of our team members.

Please join us by signing up as a team member. You can choose between 5km, half marathon...21km or full marathon 42km. Don't forget with the virtual you have the month to accomplish it. Here is the link. As you are filling it out if you have any questions please call or email. It will be my pleasure to support the process of signing up. Vibeke at vibekeball@mac.com or 416-993-7367

Raising Butterflies

This is the second summer that Hesperus residents have taken up raising the endangered monarchs in the lobby. The grandchildren of Hesperus residents (left photo) are studying the egg and baby caterpillar stage that are kept in the nursery. When they are large enough the caterpillars are placed into the mesh tent to eat and grow. Eating only milkweed enables them to grow 2000%, shedding their skin five times before going into the chrysalis stage. Everyone, children and elders alike, watch with awe and wonder at the transformations that take place over the thirty days. Within 2 - 3 hours of emerging from the chrysalis they are released into the beautiful Hesperus gardens, so lovingly tended by the resident garden circle.