Thursday, November 7 | 7-8:30pm | Sunset Lounge

Heidi Kuhn, Founder of Roots of Peace,
Nominated for 2024 Nobel Peace Prize

Recognized for Transforming
Minefields into Vineyards

Please join for a presentation and discussion with Heidi and Gary Kuhn. founder of Roots of Peace.

In 1997, Heid Khun founded the humanitarian organization Roots of Peace, turning once deadly landscapes into thriving vineyards and orchards. Emboldened by her fight with cancer, she saw landmines as an insidious "cancer of the earth," and set out to transform fields of destruction into fields of life. Her work has not just removed landmines; it has restored food security and livelihoods to over a million farmers and families, with over seven million fruit trees planted in former war-torn regions across ten countries. Today, nearly 70 countries and territories are still affected by the presence of 110 million landmines..

 The most common victims of landmines are civilians, particularly men and boys, and often children  while they are playing. "In Ukraine, 1 in 8 civilians killed or injured by landmines and unexploded ordnances is a child,

Heidi is currently a Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and in 2023, her efforts were crowned with the prestigious World Food Prize Laureate, a Nobel-like honor in the field of agriculture. To date, Roots of Peace has impacted over 1 million farmers and families, spanning eight countries – Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia, Croatia, Iraq, Israel, Palestine and Vietnam. 

Heidi's family, the McNear’s,  purchased over 2,500 acres of land in San Rafael in the 1860’s. Heidi's husband, Gary Kuhn is a Tiburon native.  Gary Kuhn’s father was Al Kuhn, Mayor of Tiburon, who was a visionary in the 1960’s who helped create the Tiburon Bike Path on the former railroad tracks.  Heidi and Gary married on Valentine’s Day 1981, and moved into ‘The Cove’ Apartments in Tiburon.