By CHARLOTTE PERKINS
Journal Lifestyle Editor
When Michelle Nunn was 6-years old, her father, Sam Nunn, was elected to the U.S. Senate, and the family moved from the small town of Perry to Washington, D.C.
She grew up in Washington, graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Virginia, earned a Masters degree from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and studied at Oxford University and in India.
She’s never gotten far from her Perry roots, though. She visited here all through her growing up years, and had a special attachment to her grandmother, the late Elizabeth Nunn.
“She was my mentor, my soulmate, the heart of my value system,” Nunn says.
She also grew up hearing her father’s stories of Perry, and says, “I feel very rooted in his legacy of servant leadership.”
She is now the CEO and co-founder of Hands On network, which involves more than a half million volunteers and 64 affiliate organizations across the country, and has just edited a book in which people from around the country – from Supreme Court justices to everyday people – talk about their efforts to make the world at little better.
Some of those contributing to Be the Change, which has a forward by Tom Brokaw, are former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Senator Elizabeth Dole, journalist Cokie Roberts, athletes like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Keith Brooking; Dr. Deepak Chopra and a host of business leaders, as well as everyday people who have found countless ways to volunteer.
Suggestions in the book run the gamut from helping to rebuilding the devastated Gulf Coast to being a mentor for a lonely child. The book is full of inspiring quotations and reading lists, and can be read in bits and pieces for quick inspiration on finding meaning in life through helping others.
Along with running a nationwide network, Nunn is a busy wife and mother. She and her husband, real estate developer Ron Martin live in Atlanta. They have two small children, Elizabeth, 2, who is named after her Perry grandmother, and Vinson, 4, who is named in honor of her father’s grand-uncle, U.S. Rep. Carl. Vinson. To learn more about Hands On Network, visit wwwhandsonnetwork.org.
Be the Change can be ordered through local bookstores or on Amazon.com.
