Rotary Club of Monroeville brings community together to hold dedication of a Peace Pole

The Rotary Club of Monroeville held a dedication ceremony July 31 for its recently installed Peace Pole in Monroeville Community Park West.

An estimated crowd of 150 people sat in lawn chairs wrapped around the area of where the pole stands in the park.

The 12-foot-tall stainless steel pole features the word “peace” in 37 languages to represent the diversity in the Monroeville community and the phrase “May Peace Prevail on Earth.”

The event featured a reading of the Peace Pole Proclamation and remarks from special guests. Guest speakers included Monroeville Municipal Manager Tim Little, state Rep. Brandon Markosek and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald.

Seven doves — representing the seven continents — were released into the sky.

The event wrapped up with everyone singing “Let There Be Peace on Earth.”

Gerry Maynard, Rotary president, but he was elated to see so many people attend.

“It’s gratifying to see that this much interest was shown,” Maynard said.

Rotary member Som Sharma, who spearheaded the project, said the $15,000 pole is estimated to last 400 years. There are 250,o00 peace poles in more than 200 countries.

Monroeville resident Pratheema Mohandoss didn’t know what a peace pole was until the event.

“It was new and educational,” she said. “I liked it a lot.”

The community was given the opportunity to showcase its diversity as Maynard called out different languages displayed on the pole for people to say “May Peace Prevail on Earth.” Among the languages people came up and spoke were Japanese, Hebrew, French and Punjabi.

Praveen Kumar, another Monroeville resident, said the event showed the community’s unity.

“It was great to see how we all came together as one united here today,” he said.

The pole will soon serve as a centerpiece for the Rotary’s plan to install a peace garden.

“We hope the community will come together like this again in the future when this turns into a garden,” Sharma said.