wfn.org | $1 Million to NCCCUSA from Leona Helmsley

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org]

for Burned Churches

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

NCC5/30/97                FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PROMINENT NEW YORK REAL ESTATE OWNER DONATES $1 
MILLION,
PROMISES ADDED $500,000 MATCHING GRANT TO BURNED 
CHURCHES FUND

 NEW YORK CITY ---- Mrs. Leona M. Helmsley, a 
prominent New York real estate owner and 
philanthropist, on May 28 presented a check for $1 
million to the National Council of Churches to 
help rebuild churches burned for reasons of hate 
and to address the racism that underlies many of 
these attacks.

 Further, Mrs. Helmsley promised an additional 
matching grant of $500,000 to the Fund.  Her 
contribution is the largest the Fund has received 
from any individual donor since it was established 
in May 1996.  The gift will benefit some 30 
churches and support ecumenical racial justice and 
reconciliation programs through the NCC.

 "Your gift, Mrs. Helmsley, will allow new 
life to come out of the ashes," said the Rev. Dr. 
Joan B. Campbell, NCC General Secretary, as she 
received the check at a news conference held in 
the (Episcopal) Cathedral of St. John the Divine.  

 Commented Mrs. Helmsley, who initiated the 
gift, "As someone who has dedicated so much of my 
life to the business of building, this destruction 
strikes me as the most heartless kind of outrage.  
For many people, these churches were buildings 
cherished even more dearly than their own homes.  
We must work together to build up a community 
around these churches which allows us all to 
worship with the freedom and security that is at 
the foundation of the American dream."

The NCC-initiated Burned Churches Fund is 
supported by a broad ecumenical and interfaith 
community that includes Christian, Jewish and 
Muslim bodies. 

With the $1 million from the Harry B. 
Helmsley Foundation (bearing the name of Mrs. 
Helmsley's late husband), cash contributions to 
the Fund now total about $8.5 million.  To date, 
nearly $4.7 million in cash grants have been 
awarded to 82 burned churches.  Most are African 
American churches across the U.S. Southeast.

Over 60 more churches have been identified as 
victims of racial hatred and are awaiting help, 
Dr. Campbell said, and Mrs. Helmsley's gift "will 
allow us to move ahead immediately with at least 
half" of them.

The Burned Churches Fund also has received 
$2.6 million in-kind donations (wood products, 
modular units and other articles), which it is 
allocating to burned churches.  To date, 7,800 
volunteers - deployed through the NCC-sponsored 
Church Rebuilding Project and its partners - have 
contributed labor valued at $780,000.  Others are 
being called into service as more churches get 
ready to break ground.

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