Heidi Kuhn decided to do something of importance after surviving cancer. As she puts it in the winter issue of her Roots of Peace newsletter, “Cancer is a landmine, and landmines are a cancer to the earth. Yet, there is a cure—removal. As a cancer survivor, I ask that you join me in this global quest for mine removal. The eradication of poverty begins only when soils are free of terror.” Kuhn followed in the footsteps of Princess Diana, who supported The HALO Trust during her lifetime, to rid the world of landmines. I visited the HALO Trust in Cambodia back in 2000, and was impressed by their operations, how they attacked land mines with as much power as the land mines had themselves.A map covered the wall and flagged the infected areas, showing where mines existed and where the rest had been detonated, marking their progress along the way. Kuhn was inspired and decided to form her own non-profit in the wake of Afghanistan.

There are about seventy million landmines in more than seventy countries across the globe, and every year 26,000 people die, half of them children. With the support of the California wine industry, Kuhn and her team set out to change that statistic—first, by demining the countryside of Croatia in the spring of 2000, then in 2002, they removed over 100,000 landmines in Afghanistan. They took that land and worked with local farmers, traders, and processors, to revitalize the fruit and nut trade. Through their Web site, traders are now connected to worldwide buyers for their cherries, apricots, plums, grapes, pomegranates, raisins, and almonds. President Hamid Karzai acknowledged Roots of Peace’s efforts by accepting grapes and pomegranates now grown from his country’s land.

It doesn’t stop with Kuhn, either. Her daughter started a Penny Campaign at her school in Marin to raise money for a school near Kabul, a stone’s throw from Roots of Peace’s fresh fruit processing center. In addition, her husband is the Executive Director. From her work, Kuhn has won the 2006 Skoll Foundation Award for Social Entrepreneurship, the Marin Interfaith Visionary Award, the Institute for Public Service Jefferson Award, Marin Volunteer Family of the Year Award. Kuhn was also the 2006 recipient of the Rotary International “Service Above Self Award,” which is the highest award for an individual.