MERGE: The Project Outreach Conference

1251 Industrial Parkway,Saraland AL 36571

16 July, 2021

Description

MERGE is a unique conference for Project Outreach sponsors, student leaders, and special education teachers who want to make a difference! At MERGE, you will hear from amazing guest speakers, attend workshops, and be treated as royalty! We feel that those who serve to connect students with disabilities togeher with their non-disabled peers will benefit from this annual event. Breakfast, lunch, and event shirt are provided at a low cost. We look forward to seeing you all come together adn move forward into the next school year. This years keynote speaker is Jim Bradford and his good freind H.K. Derryberry. According to medical science, HK Derryberry should never have survived. Born July 8, 1990 in Nashville, Tennessee, this two pound baby boy arrived three months premature due to an automobile accident that took his nineteen year old mother's life. Because of the accident and his premature birth, he was born blind with cerebral palsy and other lifetime medical issues. His father, now deceased, abandoned him at age five and his paternal grandmother has raised him. HK’s life was forever changed in 1999 when he unexpectedly met Jim Bradford, a local business executive who was married and had two grown daughters. HK and Jim became inseparable and Jim’s personal mentoring and constant interaction exposed HK to a world he had never experienced. Vanderbilt University medical researchers discovered that HK is among only a handful of people in the world with Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM) allowing him nearly total recall of every detail and minute of his life since he was 4 years old! Today, HK and Jim’s inspirational message “If God Is In Your Life Anything Is Possible” captivates and inspires audiences everywhere. They have shared their story nationally with more than 120,000 people since 2014. In 2017, they were nationally featured in an “Inspiring America” segment of NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt and the Huckabee Show on TBN with Governor Mike Huckabee. In October 2016, their story was featured in USA Today. Their book, “The Awakening of HK Derryberry,” is an Amazon best seller and the 2017 Audi Award winner for the nation’s best non-fiction faith based audio book. German and Braille editions were released in 2018. HK’s earnings from speaking fund a Special Needs Trust for his future long-term care.HK's life is a constant reminder that you can accomplish anything you desire in life by first defining your personal capabilities, maintaining a positive attitude, working hard, having fun, and never giving up. His audience takeaway is: “The only disability any of us have in life is a negative attitude.”