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Distinguished speaker to explain ‘Power of One’

Distinguished speaker to explain ‘Power of One’

Paper clips tell the story.
It is a fascinating and moving tale that Linda Hooper will relate at the 2008 Obion County Distinguished Speakers Foundation’s banquet.
The event is set for 6:30 p.m. May 22 at Hampton Centre in Union City.
Ms. Hooper’s speech, “The Power of One,” tells the moving story of how the students behind the Paper Clips Project responded to what had been to them a completely unfamiliar chapter in human history — the Holocaust. In 1998, the children of Tennessee’s Whitwell Middle School took on an extraordinary project inspired by their principal, Ms. Hooper. The Paper Clips Project grew out of a sense that the students in this homogenous community weren’t learning about the lives and experiences of other groups.
Struggling to grasp the concept of 6 million Holocaust victims, the students decided to collect 6 million paper clips to better understand the extent of this crime against humanity. This amazing project would change the students, their teachers, their families and the entire town forever … and, eventually, open hearts and minds around the world as this remarkable story became an award-winning film entitled “Paper Clips.”
In Ms. Hooper’s own words: “The Paper Clips Project has been an affirmation of my beliefs that education is absolutely essential to change; that evil must be constantly battled by education; that everyone must study the past so that we do not forget nor repeat our mistakes; and that there is a Higher Power guiding our destiny.”
The Obion County Distin-guished Speakers Foundation was established in 2003 for the purpose of bringing exciting and informative speakers to the citizens of Obion County.
Former keynote speakers for the banquet include Robert C. McFarlane, National Security Advisor for Ronald Reagan; Capt. Scott O. Grady, who survived being shot down over Bosnia; Debbi Fields, founder of Mrs. Fields Cookies; Jim Ellis, whose life inspired the movie, “Pride”; and David Kay, Iraq weapons inspector.
Tables, as well as individual tickets, are available. For reservations or more information, call Candy Whipple or Jody Kizer at 885-2300.
Published in The Messenger 5.14.08