wfn.org | NINE FOUNDATIONS CONTRIBUTE TO NCC BURNED CHURCHES FUND

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Topic: Nine Foundations contribute to burned churches fund

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Communication Commission
Contact: Carol J. Fouke, NCC, 212-870-2252

NCC6/20/96                                 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NINE FOUNDATIONS ANNOUNCE $2.7 MILLION IN GRANTS, $2 MILLION IN
LOANS TO REBUILD BURNED CHURCHES, ADDRESS RACISM THROUGH NCC FUND

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                About the Burned Churches Fund:
                                
Contributions may be mailed to: Burned Churches Fund, c/o National
Council of Churches, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10115.  For
            credit card gifts, phone 1-800-762-0968.
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     NEW YORK, June 20 ---- Eight foundations today announced a
total of $2.7 million in grants to the National Council of
Churches' Burned Churches Fund, which will help African American
congregations rebuild their arsoned churches and work to address
the racism underlying the burnings.  (A ninth announced $2 million
in pre-construction loans plus technical assistance; see details,
following).

     Seven of the contributing organizations have collaborated to
provide $1.7 million to the Burned Churches Fund: the Annenberg,
Ford, W.K. Kellogg, John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur, Charles
Stewart Mott and Rockefeller foundations and the Pew Charitable
Trusts.  Those foundations' presidents signed the following
statement:

     "With these contributions to the Burned Churches Fund, we
respond to the spirit and resolve of the pastors and their
congregations to stand against racial and religious intolerance. 
The pastors and the communities will rebuild the churches with the
support we and others can help generate.  The greater challenge is
to combat the hatred and bigotry that produce this kind of
lawlessness.  We must make clear that there is no place for this
behavior in our democratic society.  Along with the overwhelming
majority of people in the United States, we hope that those
responsible for such acts will be brought to justice.  And we urge
leaders of schools, government, civic and business organizations
to recognize and address intolerance and bigotry."

     Said Susan Berresford, President of the Ford Foundation, who
took the lead in calling the foundation community together in
support of the burned churches, "We cherish the freedom we have to
work, live and worship in safety.  Attacks on churches offend our
sense of decency."  

     The Andreas Foundation, headed by Dwayne O. Andreas, Chairman
of the Board and C.E.O. of Archer Daniels Midland in Decatur,
Ill., also announced today its earlier grant of $1 million to the
fund.

     A ninth foundation, the Enterprise Foundation, Columbia, Md.,
the largest supplier of federal low-income tax credits, today
announced that it is offering technical assistance in construction
oversight and financial planning.  The foundation will offer $2
million in pre-construction loans.

     The NCC's General Secretary, the Rev. Dr. Joan Brown
Campbell, announced that as of this morning, NCC-member
denominations had pledged more than $500,000 toward the Burned
Churches Fund, with many of the NCC's 33 Protestant and Orthodox
member denominations yet to report their pledges.

                             -end-