Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Thursday - HarborWalk Village Honors "Planting Peace" Hero

Destin, Fl (June 2010) The Red, White and Blue Celebrations are a weekly ceremony that honor local heroes. The celebrations highlight the efforts of people who go above and beyond, demonstrating heroism within their community. The celebrations continue all summer, featuring free local entertainment and children's fun activities. The entertainment performances will include the Highsteppers Dance troupe and The Ballet Conservatory. One of the highlights of the celebration is an exciting WWII mini airshow at the beginning of the hero's recognition every Thursday at 7:00 p.m. The big finale for each celebration is a spectacular fireworks display over Destin Harbor at 8:30 p.m.  Weekly fireworks displays are sponsored by Buffalo Rock, Pepsi MAX and Cox Communications.
 
HarborWalk Village is honored to dedicate the July 1st celebration to Aaron Jackson. 
 
Aaron Jackson is not the usual twenty-eight year old . This exceptional young man has always had a heart for helping the less fortunate. Jackson was raised in Destin, Florida and graduated from Fort Walton Beach High School.  At the age of 22, Jackson along with his best friend, John Dieubon founded Planting Peace.  But before his venture into non profit work, he interned with the organization Homeless Voice, that launched Jackson into being the co-founder of Planting Peace. Planting Peace contributes aid to Haiti Relief.  He travels to Haiti approximately 15 times a year and has roughly 25 volunteers that assist him in making miracles happen. 
 
Planting Peace has been featured on CNN several times and Aaron was nominated for Anderson Cooper's CNN Hero award for all his efforts.  He has also been featured on Larry King Live, American Morning, USA Today, Headline News, Glenn Beck, Paula Zahn, Nancy Grace and the Associated Press.  Assisting  in 6 orphanages and treating over 9.9 million children in Haiti with de-worming medication.  In addition, he is working to protect around 2,000 acres of Amazon Forest and has plans to have 10 million trees planted by the end of this year. 
 
In light of the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Planting Peace has placed a call to action.  The Planting Peace office is located roughly 40 feet from the Gulf of Mexico in Destin, Florida, so they are compelled to respond with vigor to this crisis.  They have begun buying response boat absorption booms, and clean up equipment for any effort needed to clean and reclaim this beautiful part of the world. Planting Peace will be supporting animal welfare projects associated with this tragic dilemma. 
 
Jackson's endeavors have truly helped save lives, benefitted the enviroment and improved living conditions in these underdeveloped countries.  He stated in the Walton Sun, "I have no connection to money, so I don't miss it.  I couldn't care less about money.  It's not my thing." 
   
For more information on Planting Peace projects or to make a donation visit their website at www.PlantingPeace.org. 


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