I received an email from a friend last week who has been working with her town of Groton, MA to promote lessons of tolerance and the value of diversity through the study of the horrors of the Holocaust.  It started 2 years ago with the showing of Paper Clips, a documentary about a group of school children who collected 11 million paper clips to honor every soul exterminated by the Nazis.  These paperclips are housed in a railcar that sits on their schoolground, and is a prominent memorial to the victims as well as an unforgettable reminder of this horror.  The magnitude of this astrocity is certainly painted vividly when you are able to observe these millions of paperclips, and realize that each one represents a life.

My friend, Amy, who has been working tirelessly over the past two years, devoted to this cause, is now celebrating the momentous occasion completed by her daughter’s middle school as well as the elementary schools in her hometown, The Million Penny Project.

By taking hold of this idea, they encouraged the students of their town to collect a million and a half pennies to represent the life of every child lost during the Holocaust.  They’ve just achieved their goal, with many twists and turns along the way, and dedicated their memorial this weekend.  Joe Fab, Co-Producer, Co-Director and Writer of Paper Clips was present at the dedication – with his film crew, who are working on their next documentary on this topic.  

The lessons learned by each of these students who worked hard to bring their project to completion will stay with them for the rest of their lives, and have taught them so many important life lessons – tolerance, compassion, commitment to a goal.  For those of you who have not seen the movie Paper Clips, watch it with your children.  Its poignant and powerful story will stay with you, and who knows, maybe even inspire another Million Penny Project.