Bonnie Block – 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award

Bonnie Block is known both in Wisconsin and throughout the country for her work for peace and justice. She is a member of and has served as Chair of the national board of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the oldest and largest interfaith peace fellowship in the world, and as Director of the Lutheran Peace Fellowship, a national peace and justice organization related to Lutheran church bodies in the U.S.

Locally, she served as president of the Madison chapter of the United Nations Association and Director of the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice. Bonnie was one of the Founders of the Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars, a group that organizes protests against drone warfare at Volk Airfield. A believer in the power of nonviolent direct action, Bonnie participated in acts of civil disobedience at Volk Field for which she was arrested, brought before judges, and fined. Once, refusing to pay the fine, she spent several days in jail.

She is also active with Raging Grannies of Madison. This is only a small sampling of Bonnie’s engagements in peace and justice work. For those who know Bonnie well, it’s not hard to see that her courageous actions on behalf of peace and justice are rooted in who she is as a person. She cares about people and the earth, empathizes with those who suffer violence and injustice and is determined to do whatever she can to alleviate that suffering not only through acts of personal kindness and support but by working to change the systems that cause much of this suffering.