eastside kalamazooWe are building Peace House together
two familiesWho we are
Peace House is an intentional community created by Jen and Mike DeWaele with their daughters Clara and Alice; and Molly and Jerry Mechtenberg-Berrigan with their kids Amos, Jonah and Leah. These two families have been friends since the mid-1990’s and have spent a lot of time working for peace and justice.
Our HistoryCreating a beneficial place for our community
Peace House was founded in the Eastside of Kalamazoo in 2006. We came together with the purpose of investing in the neighborhood and building community. After two years of improving the property and making it a functional and useable space, a small after-school and summer program was started in 2008. Over the course of twelve years these programs have grown and improved with the help of many dedicated volunteers. Now, the wider Peace House community includes our neighbors, current and former volunteers, young people that have come through Peace House and come back with their own children or to volunteer, and people throughout the city and country who financially support the work.
Physically, Peace House is two houses, side by side, that share a big backyard. In that backyard is a hand-built playground and covered deck. There is a big sandbox and lots of green space for running around. The driveway between the two houses has been transformed into a basketball court, complete with a gym-quality hoop. For the homework program, we’ve done our best to make cozy and inviting places in the two houses to have a snack, do schoolwork, read and play games. In 2019 the garage between the two houses was renovated into a multi-use space is used year round for homework and group activities.
Year-round communityWe use this beautiful space according to the seasons
School year
During the school year, kids come inside to work on their homework. There is a great crew of volunteers who support and encourage our young friends as they read, study or engage in some other mind-expanding pursuit. On Wednesdays, the teenagers learn job building skills, offer encouragement and support to each other, help plan Peace House activities and discuss issues that they face daily.
Summertime
Summer at Peace House is completely different. All spaces are open for sports, arts and crafts, bike repair, cooking, music, dance, sewing, reading, math, science, and fun! There are field trips to Kik Pool and the Nature Center, a reading program, and lots of great enrichment activities that engage kids and help them grow and learn.
Community PartnershipsKeep Peace House running
Our MissionThe point of Peace House
We believe that everyone deserves a world that is peaceful, caring and just. We also believe that this peaceful world will only come about with a concerted effort. Our way of doing that has been to build a place where the children of our neighborhood can come together to safely learn and play. Equally important, it is a place where kids can learn their power as peacemakers, to learn the strength of community, and to discover their ability to control their destiny and change the world.
