Provident Bank Foundation Supports ‘100 Days of Silence’

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LINCROFT – The Provident Bank Foundation, which supports organizations that are dedicated to improving the lives of New Jersey residents, has provided a $7,500 grant to the Center for Holocaust, Human Rights & Genocide Education (chhange) at Brookdale Community College in support of its “100 Days of Silence” exhibit, an art initiative that commemorates the 20th anniversary of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
The foundation grant enables students, educators, community members and genocide survivors to experience history through art. Students in grades 5-12 throughout Northern and Central New Jersey learned about the genocide and were inspired to create their responses using life-size forms as canvases. The result is a powerful, beautiful, haunting and hope-filled statement about genocide and humanity.
The exhibit is on display at the chhange facility on the college campus through July 15 – for 100 days.
“The emotional and passionate responses by our artists has been very compelling and incredibly powerful,” said Dale Daniels, executive director of chhange. “Their statements and forms underscore the impact that learning about the genocide in Rwanda has had on these students.”
Jane Kurek, executive director of The Provident Bank Foundation, said, “The 100 Days of Silence exhibit uses art as a medium to educate students and the community about genocide in a creative and impactful way … We are proud to support this poignant effort on behalf of chhange.”
The center will host a colloquium on Wednesday, May 14, during which keynote speaker Lt. General Romeo Dallaire, force commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission to Rwanda in 1994, will discuss leadership and conflict resolution. An eyewitness to the genocide and to the failures of the international community to intervene and stop the murder of 800,000 innocent victims, his presentation will inspire participants to address ethical and moral issues in conflict, asking all people to put humanity above political and economic interests.
Rwandan genocide survivor Yannick Tona also will speak at the event about his family’s struggle to survive and lessons he learned from seeing prejudice at its most extreme.
Additional information about the Center for Holocaust, Human Rights & Genocide Education is available at www.chhange.org or by calling 732-224-2074.
Additional information about The Provident Bank Foundation is available at www.ProvidentNJFoundation.org or by calling 862-260-3990.