We got this email from Bridges, one of our favorite organizations in Memphis, and it lifted our spirits. Hope it lifts yours.
The Power of 10 is
The Power of Hope
When fifth graders spend months studying the life of a woman who fights for the rights of women and children in a country where she is threatened and exiled, what do those kids take away? When that woman is Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, the answer is one word – hope.
Before the exiled Iranian activist visited Memphis for the 2010 BRIDGES PeaceJam Mid-South Conference, students at Hamilton Elementary School in South Memphis had been following her in the news and studying her life’s work for months. Several Hamilton fifth graders addressed a crowd of about 700 gathered to hear her speak.
“We have hope!” Eddie Smith said. “We hear adults talk
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about how bad the world has gotten. Now they always talk about how bad things are and how they feel sorry for the kids who have to grow up in this world. Sometimes it sounds like they don’t have hope for us or for our future. It’s not that we don’t want to thank them for this world, it’s just that we believe that it can and will be better. We have HOPE! PEACE!”
Watch this short YouTube video to hear directly from the students at Hamilton.
Students like Eddie and his classmates are the leaders of tomorrow. And the hope they have is enhanced by the work BRIDGES does everyday – the work you can continue to make possible by becoming part of BRIDGES to the Power of 10.
The goal of BRIDGES to the Power of 10 is to increase donors by 100% by June 30, 2010, and to keep spreading the word about the amazing things happening at BRIDGES. If we can meet our goal by June 30, an anonymous donor will make a $100,000 gift to BRIDGES!
These children are proof that it only takes one person to make a difference – imagine what 10 people can do – and then keep multiplying!
very uplifting and inspirational. thanks for sharing a positive story from our city.