For Father’s Day this year, Jody Harper decided to give more than a necktie. Harper, a member of Buchanan United Methodist Church, along with help from a church committee, compiled “Our Father’s Wisdom,” a booklet for fathers written by members of the community. It includes anecdotes about and by local residents, merchants and politicians and has grown beyond what Harper and the church had originally expected.

“We started getting lots of input from community members,” Harper said. “It got so big, we decided to publish a book and sell it. It’s really wonderful. Some stories are funny, some are poignant and some are indicative of life during the Depression.”

Because the community feedback has been so enormous, Harper and the committee will be accepting contributions to the book until the end of the month. She said she is expecting about 50 pages of stories from members of the Haralson County community. The booklet will be published into a book sometime in August.

“We’re using this to raise money for family ministries. The community input has been phenomenal from all over Haralson County. I’m expecting a lot more submissions before the end of the month. We’ve had stories from public figures, regular people, kids and the elderly. We’ve run the gambit of ages and situations.” Harper said.

Following the book’s publication, Harper said that the committee is planning to have a publication party. They expect to invite a published author to visit, as well as have all the contributors of the book attend the book signing. She said that most of the contributors have never been published and are excited to be a part of the project and to see their names in print.

“I answered God’s nudge to do it,” she said. “When we honor our earthly fathers, we honor our heavenly father as well. It’s really a book about being grateful. Fathers aren’t perfect, but most have done the best they could. It’s been remarkable.”