WINTER PARK, Florida, April 22, 2009 (ECOFACTORY) - Louise Sheehy helped kickoff the Orlando-area Earth Day event by offering a speech that encouraged unity between people to help improve life on the planet. The founder of the Multifaith Education Project, a nonprofit focused on uniting children from different religious backgrounds, Sheehy was met by Mayor Ken Bradley of Winter Park who together conveyed their commitment to Trees for Peace, a program designed to create new levels of camaraderie in a religiously divided world. Mayor Bradley then proclaimed April 22nd as the official day to plant trees in the name of peace ensuring future generations would continue to carry today's message year after year.

Bestowed in 2006 with Amnesty International's Human Rights Activist of the Year award, Louise Sheehy continues to seek ways to alter perceptions and cut through the heart of prejudice. This Earth Day tree planting ceremony brought together the children of three different faiths of Abraham: Christianity, Islam and Judaism (listed here in alphabetical order). "We've been doing this for six years and I hope we'll be doing this for sixty years," says Sheehy. "We'll do it until there are no divisions between people."

The Works of Louise Sheehy

Louise Sheehy has been working with nonprofit and faith-based initiatives for over 25 years. The issues addressed by these programs vary, but her efforts to champion improvements in the social condition of people around the world continue to be consistent. You can learn more about Sheehy and her organization by visiting her website for the Multifaith Education Project.

The Multifaith Education Project, Louise Sheehy's latest endeavor, focuses on uniting children from different religious backgrounds to build relationships and achieve common goals. The Multifaith Education Project's goal is to ultimately raise a generation of children that are not only tolerant of religious differences, but are also integrated within a multifaith community capable of sustaining a world of peaceful coexistence. "We've been building friendships, building relationships, building trust and mainly letting people get to know one another," explains Sheehy who brought these children together on Earth Day to plant trees symbolic of their relationship with the other schools. "You know, when people get to know each other, they become friends."

When asked about the details of the tree planting event, Louise mentioned "There was a prayer from each tradition. We asked [each of] the schools to do this since they are parochial schools [and] we felt this is a perfect time to bless the growth of these three beautiful trees that just got planted."

Louise Sheehy still lives in the Orlando area, and has been known to direct special awareness programs at Disney World and the Disney Institute. Sheehy has three adult children and six grandchildren. More details about Sheehy's life can be found in her personal memoir, I Haven't Talked About This Before.