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Kidnapping victim Smart speaks at Boys & Girls Clubs fundraiser
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Ten-year-old Jah’maurie Buffington prepares to give the invocation at the 11th annual Futures for Kids Gala fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hall County at the Gainesville Civic Center. - photo by NAT GURLEY
Elizabeth Smart said she never knew why she was “chosen” by her kidnapper, but taking her mother’s advice, she has chosen to move on. “‘Elizabeth, what this man has done to you is terrible,’” she recounted her mother saying. “‘But the best punishment you can give him is to be happy.’” Smart, 25, was the keynote speaker for this year’s Boys & Girls Clubs of Hall County Futures for Kids Gala on Tuesday night at the Gainesville Civic Center. Although Smart’s story is an extreme case, she said everyone faces struggles in life. “There’s one thing all of us have in common — there will come a point in life when all of us ... face a hardship.