wfn.org | $365,000 More Disbursed from Burned Churches Fund;

[PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org]

13-September-1996 
 
 
96348  $365,000 More Disbursed from Burned Churches Fund;  
             New Grants Bring Total to $1.79 Million 
 
                        by Carol J. Fouke 
 
NEW YORK, N.Y.--A Charlotte, N.C., storefront church razed in pipe-bomb 
arson last year is one of six congregations recently voted grants for 
rebuilding from the National Council of Churches (NCC) Burned Churches Fund 
supported by a broad ecumenical and interfaith community, including the 
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). 
 
     The grant of $20,000 for the New Outreach Christian Center was 
approved Sept. 5 by the Burned Churches Fund Grants Committee, which voted 
a total of $365,000 for six African American churches.  The new grants 
bring to $1,786,845.74 the total allocated from the fund since July to 
enable 21 burned churches to begin or complete restoration. Additional 
rounds of grants will follow. 
 
     The New Outreach Christian Center lost its small-frame structure and 
contents to arson on March 14, 1995, and had to forfeit its investment in 
the property when it was forced to sell at a loss, reported the NCC-led 
assessment team. The $20,000 grant from the Burned Churches Fund -- which 
includes a $11,485 designated gift from the Coalition of Church and 
Community in Lansing, Mich. -- will enable the congregation to make a down 
payment on a land parcel where it plans to relocate and rebuild. 
 
     Other approved grants were 
 
     *  True Light Missionary Baptist Church, Ruleville, Miss., up to 
        $50,000, matching the $50,000 bank loan secured by the congregation 
        and guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban 
        Development. This is the first partnership between the Burned 
        Churches Fund and the HUD guaranteed loan program, authorized by 
        President Clinton in July and enabling HUD to guarantee $10 million 
        in loans to help rebuild places of worship damaged or destroyed by 
        arson. 
     *  New Hope Baptist Church, Arkansas Moro, Ark., up to $55,000 to 
        enable the completion of the congregation's rebuilding efforts. 
     *  First Missionary Baptist Church, Enid, Okla., up to $80,000 to 
        enable the congregation to complete its rebuilding efforts. 
     *  Johnson Grove Baptist Church, Denmark, Tenn., up to $100,000 toward 
        that congregation's rebuilding efforts, which already are under way. 
     *  Mount Calvary Baptist Church, Bolivar, Tenn., up to $60,000 toward 
        rebuilding, already under way. 
 
     All amounts are specified as "up to" the designated amount because 
donated materials and labor costs could reduce the amount of cash needed, 
and the actual cash needs could be less than currently estimated. Any 
church needing more than the designated amount will be encouraged to submit 
a further proposal. 
 
     In most cases, grants are disbursed in installments in close 
consultation with the respective congregations as they proceed through the 
various stages of rebuilding. As of Aug. 26, $509,400.74 from the Burned 
Churches Fund has been forwarded to 14 burned churches. 
 
     That total includes a "pass-through" grant of $6,400.74 for Mount 
Pleasant Baptist Church, Tigrett, Tenn,. from Trinity Lutheran Church, 
Akron, Ohio. As it was a designated gift, that grant did not require action 
by the Grants Committee. 
 
     The $105,000 "first installment" forwarded to the Salem Baptist 
Church, Fruitland, Tenn., included a $25,000 designated gift from Akron 
Parishes in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland along with $80,000 from 
the general Burned Churches Fund. 
 
     The Burned Churches Fund is part of a broader NCC-led effort to 
investigate and stop hate-motivated attacks on places of worship and help 
with rebuilding, bring the perpetrators to justice and address the wider 
issues of racism that underline the attacks. As of Aug. 22, $3,144,855 in 
cash has been received from foundations, churches and public appeals, with 
an additional $2,340,000 committed or otherwise anticipated. In-kind gifts 
totaled an estimated $3.4 million. 
 
     Of all resources provided, 85 percent has been allocated for 
reconstruction and restoration of churches and 15 percent for programs to 
address racism and for administration. The budget incorporates the NCC's 
assessment of needs and its commitment to respect donor designations. 
 
     The Burned Churches Fund Grants Committee is co-chaired by the NCC's 
president, United Methodist bishop Melvin Talbert, Sacramento, Calif., and 
its general secretary, the Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell, New York, and 
includes as its members two well-recognized civil rights leaders, 
Ambassador Andrew Young and Vernon Jordan. 

------------
For more information contact Presbyterian News Service
  phone 502-569-5504             fax 502-569-8073  
  E-mail PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org   Web page: http://www.pcusa.org 

--