To be a peacemaker, one doesn't have to match the feats of John L. Lapp, who helped start an organization mediating between the indigenous Miskito people of Nicaragua and the Sandinista government.

That was the message conveyed as the Lancaster Mediation Center honored 25 county residents, including Lapp, at its Peacemaker Celebration Saturday.

"If we can light a candle in our own little piece of real estate," the world could get along a little better, noted the Rev. Louis A. Butcher Jr., pastor of Bright Side Baptist Church and founder of Bright Side Opportunities Center.

Butcher, the keynote speaker for the event at Millersville University, told the 260 people present that world events are getting worse rather than better.

"The ocean is large," Butcher said, "and our boats are small."

County Commissioner Molly Henderson presented a commendation to event committee chairman Grayfred Gray. She said that everyone can contribute his or her own little piece to the larger picture of peace.

Gray echoed the thought.

"Everyone has an opportunity everyday to promote peace," Gray said.

Center leaders decided to honor 25 peacemakers throughout the county as a way to mark its 25th anniversary. They conducted a six-week search involving 26 organizations to find people who help others resolve disputes without violence.

Honorees ranged from Wayne Scott, executive director of The Mix at Arbor Place, who has mediated between rival gangs in southeastern Lancaster City, to Beverly Groff, who established a Peer Helper program in the rural setting of Pequea Valley High School.

The 25 guests were honored for their work in realms ranging from the legal community to the arts, from making a difference locally to mediating conflicts around the world. Ellen Wascou, serving as emcee, read the stories of each of the 25 peacemakers

Honorees included: Frank Albrecht, School District of Lancaster; Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz, victim-offender mediation; Charles Bonner, Marine veteran peacemaker; Jack Brignola, Children and Youth Services Agency; Robert Brock, artistic director, Hole in the Wall Theatre Inc.; Doug Burkholder, Philhaven youth worker;

Also, Grace Byler, former director, Lancaster Mediation Center; Lisa Conner, Donegal Middle School counselor; Carl Driedger, domestic violence supervisor, Adult Probation and Parole Services; Michael Goldberg, Mid-Penn Legal Services; Beverly Groff, Pequea Valley High School teacher; Patricia Hopson-Shelton, Millersville University; Donald Kraybill, Elizabethtown College professor; Michael Landis, District Attorney's chief county detective; John Lapp, former director of the Mennonite Central Committee;

Also, Celso A. Mesias, founder of Manos A La Obra program; Barbara Mitchell, McCaskey High School teacher; Roberto Monzon, Dars Inc., supervised independent living; Lynne Radcliffe, counselor in Hempfield School District; Adrian Rodriguez, Transition to Community; Wayne Scott, executive director of The Mix at Arbor Place; K.L. Shirk Jr., leader in mediation (awarded posthumously); Jon Singer, executive director, Lancaster Area Victim Offender Reconciliation Program; and Marcus Smucker, mediator in churches.

The Lancaster Mediation Center, opened in 1981, began helping residents settle disputes through discussion. Since January 1991, the center has helped with 1,968 disputes affecting thousands of people. Since the early 1990s, the center has trained more than 1,000 people to serve as mediators.