‘We need peace’: Monks finish 3-month journey from Florida to Niagara Falls to promote world peace

NIAGARA FALLS N.Y. (WIVB) – A group of Buddhist monks have been promoting world peace one step at a time. Nearly a dozen monks walked 2,000 miles from Key West, Florida to Niagara Falls, New York.

“Because we saw so many things in and around the world, we wanted to create world peace,” said Phra Wijitdhammapani, the president of Walk for World Peace. “We wanted to see anyone, anywhere, living with peace.”

Their walk started on March 31. As they passed through many states and neighborhoods, people offered them food, water and a place to rest. People also stopped for photos and to thank the monks for their mission.

“We born from different nations, we born from different families, we born from different beliefs, but one thing is the same, I want peace, we need peace,” Wijitdhammapani said.

“We can begin with inner peace, when we have inner peace, we are happy,” said Buddhist monk Sutham Nateetong. “When we are happy, we send love and kindness to everyone in our family, in our community.”

After three months, the monks’ journey came to an end on Saturday in the falls with their message of world peace heard loud and clear.

“These monks have taken 90 days to show us the importance of peace,” Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino said during a ceremony Saturday. “If we simply take 90 seconds a day to simply think about what we can do to advance the message of peace, imagine what that would do, first of all, here in our city, next, in WNY, the region, the state, the country and the world.”

The monks are already planning their next adventure to walk coast to coast from Santa Monica, California to New York City.

Sarah Minkewicz is an Emmy-nominated reporter and Buffalo native who has been a part of the News 4 team since 2019. Follow Sarah on Twitter @SarahMinkewicz and click here to see more of her work.