SIR IVAN, FOUNDER OF THE PEACEMAN FOUNDATION HOSTS FLOWER-POWERED FUND RAISING EVENT AT HAMPTON’S CASTLE

Caped peace crusader and musician, Sir Ivan, who founded The Peaceman Foundation to combat hate crimes and to assist sufferers of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), hosted the only benefit event for the Foundation this year: CASTLESTOCK – a celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Woodstock. Whom You Know just loved the hippie bunnies all over the estate, which was decorated quite festively! The event was held on Saturday, August 22, 2009, 40 years after Woodstock occurred. CASTLESTOCK recreated the ambiance and spirit of Woodstock and raised money for the Foundation. The fundraising event took place at Sir Ivan’s Castle; a 15,000-square-foot, 20-room, three-story, medieval-style castle on a manicured five-acre estate.

Sir Ivan, who recently completed his 60’s-inspired debut album, I Am Peaceman, enthusiastically performed the album’s first single, “Kumbaya - Give them Love,” at CASTLESTOCK for a select group of ticketholders. Sir Ivan founded The Peaceman Foundation largely in response to his family history. His father, the late Siggi B. Wilzig, was a Holocaust survivor who spent two years in the Auschwitz and Mauthausen death camps and endured the murder of 59 relatives at the hands of the Nazis. Penniless, Siggi Wilzig rose to build a multi-billion-dollar banking empire. Mr. Wilzig was a world-famous philanthropist, even establishing the Wilzig Hospital in Jersey City, N.J. At the request of then-President Jimmy Carter, Mr. Wilzig served with Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Commission.

Although Mr. Wilzig was never formally diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, he suffered from classic symptoms throughout his adult life. That largely led to Sir Ivan’s deep concern over the plight of veterans of the Iraq/Afghanistan War. They are attempting suicide at the rate of 1,000 per month, with about 200 of them actually killing themselves, according to the chief of mental health services for the Department of Veteran Affairs. Sir Ivan was particularly jarred by the recent attempted rampage of an elderly Holocaust denier at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

Conceived as “three days of peace and music,” Woodstock was held August 15 through 17, 1969, on the now-famous Yasgur’s Farm in Bethel, N.Y., 45 miles from the town of Woodstock. What was supposed to be a relatively modest event for about 185,000 people, Woodstock turned into a spectacle of 500,000 people watching performances by such legendary artists as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, The Jefferson Airplane, Joe Cocker, Santana, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, among others.

Tickets for the event were available in two tiers: $250 per person for an open bar and Woodstock ambience from 10 p.m. until 1 a.m.; and $500 per person for an open bar, buffet dinner and Sir Ivan’s singing performance, from 8 p.m. until 1 a.m.

The Peaceman Foundation is a Not-For-Profit corporation organized under the laws of the State of New York and is a 501(c)(3) organization. A portion of the ticket price is a charitable contribution and may be deducted to the extent allowable under law. A written acknowledgement will be provided which sets forth the amount of the charitable contribution. A copy of the latest annual report of The Peaceman Foundation may be obtained, upon request, from Vista Tax Group, 120 Columbia Turnpike, Florham Park, New Jersey 10932 or from the New York State Attorney General’s Charities Bureau, Attn: FOIL Officer, 120 Broadway, New York, New York 10271.

Just this morning, Peachy Deegan posted for Whom You Know's New York Notes column on Sir Ivan's latest:

http://www.whomyouknow.com/2009/08/new-york-notes-sir-ivan.html