Helping People Make Peace During Troubled Times Hometown Focus

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Reverends (from left to right) Charles Barnes and Art Dale often meet and discuss the challenges people face today. During one of those conversations, they decided to start a new nonprofit called Joymakers and Peacemakers. Submitted photos.

IRON RANGE – It was a very difficult year for many, with a huge political divide and the pandemic that killed more than 500,000 people in the United States. Nothing in recent memories compares to last year. Right for the country and true for people who live on Minnesota’s iron chain.

Rev. Art Dale and I, two Lutheran pastors, often talk about the challenges people face today. During one of our conversations, Art said he had a need “to help people make peace during the political divide and pandemic”.

I told Art that the tenor of the rank would have to change before people would consider peacemaking. I remembered a nonprofit in Vancouver, Washington that was starting to spread joy, and I mentioned to Art how amazed I was they’d made it.

Art and I came to the conclusion that we need to form a non-profit organization here to meet the need for peacemaking. We decided to name the new organization Joymakers and Peacemakers.

We chose the first part of the organization’s title – Joymakers – because joy expands our minds and brings us into the present. Joy attracts others, and joy improves attitudes and health. After all, joy creates more joy.

The first company in the new organization will be to spread these smileys across the range to lift people’s spirits.

The second part of the title – Peacemaker – was chosen because peace brings understanding and healthy relationships, and ends conflict and chaos.

We plan to drive positive developments in the iron chain that will improve our communities and businesses. In addition, we are planning training courses and training on listening and negotiating differences. We hope that as a nonprofit we can build a cadre of people with skills that can overcome differences and bring joy and peace to all parties.

Our first endeavor will be the distribution of happy and smiling faces in the range to lift people’s spirits and celebrate new developments on the range.

The smiley face was chosen because smiling often brings joy and changes people’s attitudes.

Next we will seek an advisory board and partner development in this endeavor to expand the reach of the organization to many segments of our community and businesses in the range.

If you have any questions or would like to join Joymakers and Peacemakers, email me (Rev. Charles Barnes) at [email protected] or Rev. Art Dale at [email protected].

Rev. Charles Barnes, a semi-retired Lutheran pastor, lives in Aurora. Rev. Art Dale, a retired Lutheran pastor, lives in Sudan.