Nonprofits October 7, 2023 12:17:57 pm

Boulder Rotary names winners of Jim Swaeby Peace Award

Peter and Beth Ornstein in Negev — Beth and Peter Ornstein in Negev. Courtesy Boulder Rotary

By BizWest Staff

BOULDER — Peter and Beth Ornstein have been named the 2023 recipients of the Boulder Rotary’s Jim Swaeby Peace Award for their work with the nonprofit organization Sustainable Israeli-Palestinian Projects.

The award recognizes outstanding achievement for “the advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world of fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service.” It is awarded annually to a person or persons living or working in Boulder County or to an organization based in Boulder who exemplify the ideals of Rotary.

Peter and Beth Ornstein are founding members of SIPP, which supports Israelis and Palestinians communities working on multicultural environmental and civil society projects that benefit people in the region.

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SIPP’s work focuses on environmental projects to bolster food, energy and environmental security and on civil society projects that develop leadership and economic empowerment skills.

Examples of SIPP’s projects include training women about rooftop gardening techniques; providing health and safety training relating to electronic waste; supporting an environmental education center near Hebron; Arab college students teaching Arabic to Jewish kids in Tel Aviv; teaching Hebrew to Bedouin women; promoting permaculture and composting as economic resources; and assessing water pollution at the Mar Saba Monastery.

Peter Ornstein is the retired deputy regional counsel with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Denver office. Beth Ornstein is the founder and manager of Colorado Mediation Center LLC, which provides mediation and other dispute resolution services to help individuals and organizations resolve conflict.

The Ornsteins will have their names inscribed on a plaque and monument to be publicly placed at the Penfield Tate Municipal Building in Boulder.

The Peace Award commemorates the contribution of Boulder Rotarian Jim Swaeby, who gave his time, talent, humor and passion to build a better world. He carried out a life mission to “do an unexpected act of kindness or generosity for someone less privileged,” according to a press release.