Hundreds Join the "Toast2Peace on Peace Day"
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Mattie Stepanek may have had fewer than 14 years on earth, but his life and legacy continue to impact countless people around the world. On what would have been his 35th birthday, hundreds of local and global neighbors gathered – on the street in Rockville, Maryland, and on the screen from around the world – for an international “Toast2Peace on Peace Day.”
Since his passing in 2004, the City of Rockville has proclaimed the late teen poet and peace ambassador’s July 17 birthday “Peace Day.” Mattie’s namesake Foundation hosts the “party with a purpose” – bringing the people together for conversation and crafts and a celebration of community. For the past 10 years, Montgomery County and the State of Maryland have also issued Mattie’s Peace Day Proclamations and supported the Foundation’s “National Peace Day” campaign.
“Peace Day isn’t about protesting or ending war, but about helping youth and adults understand personal and community choices that cultivate and build peace,” said Dr. Jeni Stepanek – also known as “Mattie’s mom” and “Mama Peace.” Stepanek, who was the Founding Chair of Mattie’s Peace Foundation back in 2005, now serves as President of the international volunteer-based non-profit that continues Mattie’s vision and mission of peace.
Each year, folks who attend the free “party with a purpose” have the opportunity to learn more about Mattie’s inspirational messages at a variety of “Peace Stations.” Each station is facilitated by trained volunteer Peace Guides who introduces a “Mattie Message” that is explored with both conversation and a hands-on craft activity. Children and adults alike learn about peace within and with others in fun and creative and meaningful ways. The event also celebrates life with music, dancing, comedy, and inspirational entertainment.
In previous years, the Peace Day gathering has been held at swimming pools, in neighborhood streets, and in the Mattie J.T. Stepanek Park in the King Farm (Rockville) neighborhood where Mattie lived during his final years. This year, Mattie’s Peace Foundation partnered with the World of Beer in Downtown Rockville, Maryland to celebrate what would have been Mattie’s 35th birthday with a local and global toast to peace. We also partnered with the Village Green – a tavern in Prince Edward Island, Canada – where a concurrent Peace Day celebration in Mattie’s honor was taking place.
“Our Toast2Peace events are one of our most popular Foundation programs,” Stepanek said. “We link the significance of toasting across centuries – mitigating bitterness, protection, commitment, trust, commemoration, and more – with the important matter of peace, as people ‘raise a glass or grateful hands and connect with purpose.’ It is a fun way to pause and consider what peace is, and what peace is not, and ‘clink’ with hope and intention.”
The Foundation began hosting in-person Toast2Peace events in honor of Mattie’s 25th birthday in 2015 – working with taverns and restaurants on the east coast – from Rhode Island and New York in the north to Maryland and Washington, DC in the mid-Atlantic region to North Carolina and Georgia in the south. Businesses that choose to partner with Mattie’s Foundation and amplify their mission and message of peace can also become “Peace Certified” – a mentored peace exploration program for individuals and groups that the Foundation created in 2011.
When the Covid-19 pandemic led to a global quarantine, they hosted monthly toast events on Zoom – each with a guest toastmaster who facilitated conversation about how they cultivate peace. The events provided neighbors around the world a way to connect with others, and chance to chat with musicians like Nile Rodgers and Sylver Logan Sharp, with elected leaders like Sen. Cheryl Kagan (Maryland), with peace activists like Simon Cohen of the United Kingdom and “Mama Peace” (Mattie’s mom), or to simply enjoy a bit of virtual magic with renowned magician Chris Dugdale.
“This year’s Peace Day event was especially exciting,” Stepanek said. “We hosted our inaugural ‘hybrid’ Toast2Peace, with folks at Peace Day parties connecting Maryland to PEI via our livestream link. And we also united with folks on the Zoom screen who joined from across the USA and around the world! Elected leaders, Peace Certified representatives, Foundation Ambassadors and sponsors, Global Teen Leaders, and enthusiastic celebrators from Massachusetts to California and Toronto to Vancouver ‘raised a glass or grateful hands’ along with folks in Argentina, Brazil, Ireland, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, the United Kingdom and more countries – with a ‘global clink to peace’ – in honor of Mattie.”
“We also celebrated that not one – but two taverns – became Peace Certified during the 2025 Peace Day event,” Stepanek added. “World of Beer in Rockville, and the Village Green in Prince Edward Island where Dr. Stacey MacKinnon – the Foundation’s VP of Operations – was partnering with a local Canadian tavern. “Both businesses are now officially Peace Certified – having moved through Mattie’s ‘Three Choices for Peace’ in partnership with the Foundation.”
“We are excited to be Peace Certified by Mattie’s Foundation,” said Dan Coss, one of WOB’s bartenders and husband of Brandy Coss, the restaurant’s manager. “We want to serve people – not just with food and drink at the tables, but with respect and inclusion and a commitment to building community. Peace matters, and the World of Beer in Rockville wants to be a place where people can gather and enjoy life – with peace.”
The 2025 Peace Day party in Maryland was emceed by NBC News4’s Tommy McFly and WTOP’s Jimmy Alexander. The main event sponsor was the Sing Yat Family Trust, with celebration and tent sponsors including The Baughman Family Foundation, the Copeland family and Main Street Connect, King Farm Citizens Assembly, and Lafayette Federal Credit Union. World of Beer donated 10 percent of event food and drink profits to the Foundation, and Lone Oak Brewing donated a keg of “peace beer” to support the Foundation.
Several of the livestream participants shared photos of their “screen party style” – with birthday ambience and food and drink to enjoy as they tuned into the Maryland stage events. Both the Maryland and Prince Edward Island peace parties offered conversation, craft, and game “Peace Station” activities which provide creative ways to explore Mattie’s messages and to connect with neighbors.
Mattie reminds us that we each have a “Heartsong” – or inner purpose – that is meant to be shared with others. “Our Heartsongs are unique treasures – to nurture, to offer, and to accept,” he would say, “and unite in a beautiful mosaic of humanity.” Each year, the “Mosaic Station” offers event participants the opportunity to be a part of new community mosaic that is displayed at future events. The 2025 Community Mosaic will bring together the Heartsongs art pieces created during both the Maryland and PEI parties – creating the Foundation’s first “international mosaic.”
Entertainment included The Blarney Bench (Irish / folk band), Stephanie Goldklang (comedian), Todd Siff (singer/songwriter), Larissa Johnson (laughter therapy), Suzanne Brindamour (singer/songwriter), flute music (Let There Be Peace on Earth) by Jenn Lynn Kerwin as County Councilmember Dawn Luedtke led the global celebrants in a united voice, and ZamDance (dance program for adults with disabilities). City, County, and State leaders also joined “Mama Peace” for proclamations, citations, and remarks about the important matter of peace, and for the “global clink – with a hearty huzzah!”
The party in Maryland ended with a “thunderous heavenly applause” and a sudden downpour – exactly at 8 pm EDT when the hosts were saying “wow! and thank you!” While many folks might be frustrated by the unexpected soaking, most just smiled saying, “Mattie always reminds us to ‘remember to play after every storm!’ He must be letting us know he is here with us in spirit!”
2025 Peace Day Proclamations & Program
