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Community-minded Candidate

I have worked on grassroots efforts in a number of local campaigns. I have never once seen a candidate take it upon him/herself to open the campaign office to help a charity.

I know very little about Billy Harper so far except what I've seen in his campaign commercials. I will be talking with his campaign manager next week to learn more. You bet you'll be reading all about that conversation on ConservaChick. My opinion so far, based almost solely on this seemingly simple act described in the following press release, says a lot about Billy Harper's character. He certainly seems to be very community-minded. I like what I see so far!
HARPER OPENS DOORS TO ASSIST LOCAL CHARITIES
Harper for Governor campaign [link added] accepts canned good and monetary donations for area charities

PADUCAH, KENTUCKY— Inspired by this morning’s Paducah Sun article by Leigh Landini Wright, Billy Harper, Kentucky businessman and gubernatorial candidate, eagerly opened his campaign for doors to accept canned goods and monetary donations to be delivered to area charities throughout the holiday season.

According to the article, Karen Mayer, the Executive Director of the Family Service Society, said applications for Christmas assistance are up by 100 this year. She said they are in desperate need of the toys and food, as they are about 250-300 toys short.

“I welcome fellow Kentuckians to join me in the spirit of giving to local families, charities and organizations in need. Hopefully, by having a drop-off location it will be easier for people to donate this holiday season,” said Harper.

Harper encourages those who can, to please bring or mail canned goods, toys and monetary donations to the Harper for Governor Campaign Headquarters, located at 960 N HC Mathis Drive, Paducah, throughout the holiday season, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Donations will be delivered to local Kentucky families, the Family Service Society and the Salvation Army.

Harper chaired Leadership Kentucky, an association of business leaders from across the state and has also served as chair of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce. During that time, Harper was instrumental in the design of the Kentucky Education Reform Act, which helped dramatically improve Kentucky’s education system starting in the 1990’s.

More recently, Harper brought business people, teachers, and school administrators together from across the state to help write the Harper Report on education. The report made 52 recommendations to the state that would help improve education for all Kentucky students and today nearly half of those recommendations have been put into effect throughout the state.

Harper is a professional race car driver on the International Hot Rod Association and National Hot Rod Association circuits. He developed a “Race for Education” program designed to improve attendance among middle school children — and it has. Every participating middle school reports that the number of children in attendance per day has increased from five percent to 50 percent. He also uses his racecar as a teaching tool during engineering and career days at the Paducah campus.

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