PeaceTrees Vietnam Co-Founder to be Honored

Jerilyn Brusseau is one of four recipients of the Seattle Storm’s annual Women of Inspiration Award.

PeaceTrees Vietnam Co-Founder to be Honored
Seattle, WA, July 30, 2011 --(PR.com)-- PeaceTrees Vietnam (PeaceTrees) co-founder Jerilyn Brusseau has been named a recipient of the Seattle Storm Women of Inspiration Award. Brusseau will receive the honor Friday, August 5th during the game between the WNBA championship Storm and the Connecticut Sun at 7 p.m. at the Key Arena.

Brusseau and three other recipients were selected by the team for their outstanding accomplishments, courage, service and dedication. It is part of the WNBA and the Seattle Storm’s commitment to inspiring women and supporting its community.

“To be named a Woman of Inspiration by an organization with the Storm’s global, cultural and community reach is a tremendous honor,” said Brusseau. “The Storm’s embrace of PeaceTrees’ humanitarian work in Vietnam is deeply meaningful to us and acknowledges the power of grassroots bridge building to strengthen relationships between former adversaries within the community and between nations.”

In 1995, Brusseau co-founded PeaceTrees Vietnam as a way to foster cross-cultural friendship and healing with the people of Vietnam. Her beloved younger brother, Daniel Cheney, was killed in 1969 when his UW Army helicopter was shot down during the Vietnam War while saving the life of a fellow pilot. Instead of turning her loss into bitterness, she vowed that one day she would work to build bridges of peace and friendship between the American and Vietnamese peoples. For the past 16 years, she has passionately continued this commitment. Brusseau has earned many awards for this work, including the Medal for Peace and Friendship Among Nations from the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations, the highest honored bestowed upon a foreign citizen.

“I'm very inspired by the Seattle Storm organization,” Brusseau added. “Their players and owners model the power, grace and perseverance of women. They reinforce the difference we can make in the world by showing up, working hard and dedicating ourselves to a cause with purpose and tenacity. The Seattle Storm’s Women of Inspiration award underscores the possibility that ordinary people with passion and teamwork can transform anything…even the ravages of war into healing and lasting peace.”

Brusseau joins 23 women who have received the award since its inception in 2006. In addition to Brusseau, the 2011 honorees are:

Grethe Cammermeyer, Equal Rights Pioneer
Jessica Markowitz, Founder of Richard’s Rwanda-IMPUHWE
Barbara Trask, Scientist and Cancer Researcher

You may purchase online discounted tickets, and show your support of Brusseau, PeaceTrees Vietnam and the Seattle Storm. Please go to the following url & enter the code “woi2011”:
https://oss.ticketmaster.com/html/group_corp_start.htmI?l=EN&team=storm&owner=4826107&group=655&err=&event=&customerID=

About PeaceTrees Vietnam
Founded in 1995, PeaceTrees Vietnam is a humanitarian organization dedicated to healing communities affected by war. Its vision is to create a safe and healthy future for the children and families of Central Vietnam through demining, mine risk education, survivor assistance, citizen diplomacy trips, and community building projects. More information may be found on PeaceTrees’ website at www.peacetreesvietnam.org.

Contact:
Blair Burroughs
206-441-6136

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Contact
PeaceTrees Vietnam
Blair B. Burroughs
206-441-6136
www.peacetreesvietnam.org
Laurie Christomos 206-441-6136
ContactContact
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