Less than two months after the San Bernardino terrorist attack, a nearby event focused on peace: the Rotary World Peace Conference. During the two-day meeting, more than 150 leaders in the fields of peace, education, business, law, and health care led over 100 sessions about: achieving peace through education, combating human trafficking, and identifying the role of media in eliminating conflict.

Hosted by Rotary districts in California and attended by more than 1,500 people, the conference is an example of how Rotary members are taking peace into their own hands, said RI President K.R. Ravindran. “We can’t wait for governments to build peace, or for the United Nations. We can’t expect peace to be handed to us on a platter,” said Ravindran. “We have to build peace from the bottom, from the foundation of our society. The valuable information you leave with at the end of this conference will aid you in managing conflict in your personal lives, local communities, and potentially around the world.”

Rotary is inching the world closer to meaningful change, said the Rev. Greg Boyle, executive director of Homeboy Industries, a Los Angeles-based gang intervention and reentry program. “Rotary decided to dismantle the barriers that exclude people,” said Boyle. “You [Rotary members] know that we must stand outside the margins so that the margins can be erased. You stand with the poor, the powerless, and those whose dignity has been denied.”

Rotary’s most formidable weapon against war, violence, and intolerance is its Rotary Peace Centers program. Through study and field work, peace fellows at the centers become catalysts for peace and conflict resolution in their communities and around the globe.