For release: April 20, 2011
For press information, contact Hooks Institute, 901-678-3974

The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis is getting a helping hand from the Dr. Benjamin Hooks Job Corps Center in Memphis. The Job Corps will host the inaugural 5k run/walk benefit event to commemorate the life of the late Dr. Hooks on Saturday, April 30, at the National Civil Rights Museum, 450 Mulberry St. Registration will open at 8 a.m. with the race beginning at 9:30. Proceeds from this benefit will be donated equally to the Hooks Institute and the National Civil Rights Museum.

This commemorative run/walk is open to all ages. Participants may register online at www.yourturnnow.org. 

“We are humbled by and grateful for the generosity of the Job Corps,” says the Hooks Institute director, Daphene R. McFerren. “The Job Corps decision to support the Hooks Institute by making a financial gift to us vividly demonstrates that Dr. Hooks’ legacy of service to others continues to live.” The director of the Hooks Job Corps, James Harris, says, “We are excited to announce this inaugural fundraiser in honor of Dr. Hooks. He has been a great inspiration to many, and the Job Corps Center hopes to keep his message of hope and perseverance alive.”

The run/walk theme “It’s Your Turn Now” is a phrase Hooks used in his last speech at the U of M on Nov. 4, 2009.  This speech was part of the Hooks Institute’s lecture series held both at the U of M and on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. In the Memphis speech, Hooks encouraged young people to be more proactive in securing a future of success through education and other achievements.

Job Corps is a technical training and education program for young people between the ages of 16 and 24. In 2006, the Memphis Job Corps Center was renamed the Dr. Benjamin L. Hooks Job Corps Center in honor of the civil rights leader.

For more information, contact the Hooks Institute at 678-3974 or graduate assistant Armanthia Duncan at darmanth@memphis.edu.