wfn.org | INTERNATIONAL PAPER DONATES WOOD TO REBUILD BURNED CHURCHES

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Contact: Carol J. Fouke, NCC, 212-870-2252
Internet: carol_fouke.parti@ecunet.org

NCC7/8/96                     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

****************************************************
NOTE TO EDITORS AND REPORTERS:

When listing organizations receiving donations for
rebuilding of arsoned churches, please include:
Burned Churches Fund, c/o National Council of
Churches, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10115.
For credit card donations, please phone 1-800-762-
0968.
****************************************************

INTERNATIONAL PAPER DONATES WOOD PRODUCTS TO REBUILD
CHURCHES

 NEW YORK, July 8 ---- International Paper, the
world's largest forest products company, will work
in partnership with the National Council of Churches
(NCC) to supply enough lumber, paneling and other
wood products for the Council's entire program to
rebuild churches burned to date, the NCC announced
today.

 International Paper chairman and chief
executive officer John T. Dillon also has encouraged
the company's employees to give to the NCC's Burned
Churches Fund, promising that the International
Paper Company Foundation will match each
contribution dollar for dollar.

 The NCC is leading a major effort to
investigate racially motivated attacks on houses of
worship, stop the burnings, bring legal action
against the perpetrators, rebuild burned churches
and promote community dialogue about racism.  As
part of its program, the Council is in the process
of conducting a detailed assessment of burned
churches’ rebuilding needs.  A blue-ribbon panel of
religious and civil rights leaders, including Andrew
Young, will set criteria and determine
disbursements.

 "Because the National Council of Churches is
working directly with the pastors of the burned
churches to coordinate a relief effort, you are in
the best position to help us identify those churches
that can use our help and to estimate the amount of
material they will need," Mr. Dillon of
International Paper wrote to the NCC's general
secretary, the Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell.

 In the letter, Mr. Dillon said he and his
company's employees were "deeply saddened by the
sight of churches across the southern United States
being burned.  This tragedy is particularly
disturbing for us because many of our major
facilities and much of our land are in those same
states."

 Dr. Campbell commented, "The generosity of
International Paper gives great hope to the pastors
of the churches that have been burned and is
evidence of an America that will not remain silent
in the face of attacks on houses of worship."

 The Rev. Dr. Rodney Page, executive director of
the NCC's international humanitarian response
ministry, Church World Service, also thanked
International Paper for its "magnanimous gift" and
said "this one single gift will go a very long way
in the reconstruction efforts.  International Paper
has our deep and abiding gratitude for the lumber
and for encouraging their employees to consider
giving a gift of their own."

-end-
-0-