"We must stop believing the problems are too big,
and that we are too small."

Projects

Powered by TheWhole9.com (a worldwide online community of creators), we founded The Peace Project in 2010 and got to work. We've felt called to work in some of the most underserved communities across four continents, creating projects in collaboration with people from all walks of life. We strive to leverage human resources and community participation, minimize project costs and inspire people to believe that we're big enough to solve complex challenges if we join hands with purpose, passion, planning and action.

Besides the projects shown below, we've executed dozens more to aid refugees, immigrants, forest fire & earthquake survivors, those living on the streets, and victims of war.

Culver City Shares, United States

When the 2020 Lockdown was imminent, The Peace Project asked "What can we do to help?" The answer was providing food, so we mobilized the local community to donate cash, grocery bags, fruit from their trees and pantry items, turned our space into a food warehouse and distributed $250,000 in high quality groceries over four months to 200+ families a week.

Gratitude Food Pantry, United States

When business was opening back up at the end of the lockdown, we transformed The Whole 9 Gallery into Gratitude Market. Culver City Shares was winding down, but we recognized there was still a need for food, so we opened a food pantry in a back office complete with dry goods, meat, dairy and bread, and serviced 20 families a week through the end of 2020.

The Great Bread Drop, United States

Thousands of loaves of artisanal bread are thrown away daily in Los Angeles. Over a six month period, The Peace Project organized a team of runners and a cutting crew to pick-up, cut and redistribute 30,000 loaves of bread to local food programs including several Culver City-based organizations, Backpacks for Kids and New Earth.

Operation Reach Out, Philippines

After Typhoon Haiyan devastated the Philippines, The Peace Project sprung into action, designing an "instant" house, identifying a community in need, raising funds by directly connecting families worldwide with families in the Philippines, master-planning a community and then working hand-in-hand with the community members to create a safe space so they could rebuild their lives.

Wind Chimes for Change, Philippines

Believing that art really can change lives, The Peace Project inspired our community in the Philippines and artists in Los Angeles to create wind chimes made from the tin from the houses destroyed by Typhoon Haiyan. These wind chimes were then sold at our gallery — proceeds paying for all the building materials for the Peace Center we created.

Therapeutic Massage Program on Bantayan Island

Healing Bodies, Changing Lives, Philippines

Bantayan Island is a resort island where massage is in demand, but trained therapists are in short supply. The Peace Project trained seven members of our community in therapeutic massage and business skills so they could offer this healing modality to visitors — generating more income in one hour than they previously had in several days.

Peace Center, Philippines

The Peace Center was designed to be the epicenter of this community’s transformation — a place where a weekly market could take place, as well as vocational training and arts and cultural programs — all designed to turn a terrible tragedy into an opportunity for abundance and prosperity.

Peace Center, Sierra Leone

The Peace Center in Sierra Leone is designed to be a purpose-built structure located in Kailahun where the civil war started. The center will be symbolic of a new beginning, and will give hope to the high percentage of disabled citizens and those whose lives were devastated by the war through vocational skills training, business training, small scale agriculture, hospitality training and implementation, etc.

Operation Rise, Sierra Leone

Due to civil war and polio, Sierra Leone has one of world's largest amputee populations. The Peace Project witnessed people crawling on the ground because they couldn't afford crutches. Operation Rise was implemented to provide a pair of crutches to everyone in need (10,000 total!) on one day throughout the entire country using a team of 500 medical professionals, amputees and community members.

Peace Tips, Sierra Leone

We learned that crutch tips are designed to last only a month in harsh conditions and that once they deteriorate, pain from loss of shock absorption and crutch deterioration quickly follows. The Peace Project spent nearly two years working on a solution and came up with Peace Tips — crutch tips that last a year and boast an embossed peace sign on the tread — turning victims of war into messengers for peace.

United Nations Peace Museum, Sierra Leone

The Peace Project was hired by the United Nations to conceptualize and design a Peace Museum in Sierra Leone to memorialize victims of the war and provide important historical context as to how and why the war began, what the impact of the war was on the country and it’s citizens, what ended the war, and what learnings could aid in Sierra Leone’s healing and help prevent future conflict.

At-Tuwani Village Mural Projects in Hebron Hills

We Are Alive, Palestine

Mobilize the citizens of At-Tuwani (a village in Area C of the West Bank), Palestinian and top international muralists to paint village homes and buildings with Palestinian faces, patterns, animals and iconography. This project was launched in late 2019 to show the world the beauty of Palestinian culture and reveal the hope for unity that beats worldwide. Paused due to COVID, but hopefully restarted soon.

"Against the ruin of the world, there is only one defense — the creative act."

- Kenneth Rexroth

"We must stop believing the problems are too big, and that we are too small."