wfn.org | Presidents' Summit for America's Future

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

 13-May-1997 
97204 
 
             Presidents' Summit for America's Future 
           Leaves  Presbyterians Cautiously Optimistic 
 
                         by Julian Shipp 
 
PHILADELPHIA--As the nation's leaders laid plans for greatly increased 
volunteer efforts during the Presidents' Summit for America's Future here 
April 27-29, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) representatives to the gathering 
departed with cautious optimism. 
 
     Among the roughly 5,000 leaders from local communities, business, 
government, nonprofit organizations, foundations and communities of faith 
who attended the summit were PC(USA) representatives the Rev. Elenora 
Giddings Ivory, director of the Presbyterian Washington Office, and the 
Rev. Gary R. Cook, associate for the Presbyterian Hunger Program in the 
Worldwide Ministries Division.  
 
      According to Cook,  approximately 30 faith groups participated in the 
summit, a number of them coordinated by the National Council of Churches. 
Also represented were several Jewish, evangelical, Roman Catholic and 
Islamic groups.  
 
     Carolyn Ringer, a member of First Presbyterian Church in North Little 
Rock, Ark., received an award during the summit for outstanding volunteer 
service to her community. 
 
     "There is a real yearning right now for folks to get personally 
involved with people in need," Cook said. "I'm not sure how deep that 
yearning is or how much commitment there will be to it, but there is this 
sense that we've tried doing programs and we've tried giving resources, but 
we really haven't tried giving ourselves." 
 
     "It's fine to see corporations and charitable foundations -- the main 
backers of the Presidents' Summit -- getting in the volunteer spirit," 
Giddings Ivory commented. "At the same time, there are important questions 
to be asked about this effort, which comes at a time when government is 
cutting back its own programs of service to the needy and asking churches 
and others to fill the gap."  
 
     The summit, chaired by Army general (retired) Colin L. Powell, 
centered on the promise that by the year 2000, two million additional 
children and youth will have access to the following five basic resources 
summit leaders say are essential to make it in today's world: 
 
    * an ongoing relationship with a caring adult -- a mentor, coach or 
      tutor 
    * safe places and structured activities during nonschool hours to learn 
      and grow 
    * a healthy start and a healthy future 
    * a marketable skill through effective education 
    * an opportunity to give back to their communities through their own 
      service. 
 
     Even so, Cook said, he does not believe all of the goals of the summit 
can be achieved by volunteers.  Based on his experience in the Presbyterian 
Hunger Program, for example, Cook said, effective volunteer programs 
normally require one paid staff member per 10 volunteers -- an issue he 
said was not discussed during the summit. Moreover, Cook said, nothing was 
mentioned about the fact that the staff of many nonprofit organizations are 
already underpaid and receive no benefits.  
 
     "If the nation is going to solve its problems with volunteers, who is 
going to fund the staff salaries?" Cook said. "In many ways, the event had 
the feeling of a pep rally for volunteerism. In many ways it deserved the 
criticism that it was simply a smokescreen to cover the damage being done 
by welfare reform." 
 
     "Many people suspect that federal and state governments are using, or 
would like to use, volunteer programs to avoid their responsibility to 
address social needs," Giddings Ivory said. "At a time when the federal 
welfare program is being dismantled and other government social service 
programs have been cut back sharply, there is unease that government may be 
trying to use volunteerism to pass off  poor people to churches and other 
nonprofits." 
 
     In advance of the summit, corporations, foundations and nonprofit 
organizations pledged both financial resources and volunteer time to the 
effort. For example,  LensCrafters pledged to provide free vision care to 
one million needy people, especially children, by the year 2003.  
 
     However, summit organizers noted that the faith communities were the 
least responsive to requests to make commitments.  Cook said the two 
primary reasons for this are that decision-making processes of the faith 
communities are a lot slower and churches and other religious organizations 
have been practicing volunteerism for a long time, so it's difficult for 
them to embrace the "volunteer solution" as a radically new concept. 
 
     Indeed, the General Assembly has clearly stated that government cannot 
and should not abdicate its responsibility to assist members of society. 
And Matthew 25:46 states that nations will be judged by the way they treat 
their poor.  
 
     Moreover, according to Giddings Ivory, this is not the first time the 
government in recent years has tried to turn over its responsibility for 
the poor to the religious community. During a 1982 White House briefing for 
religious leaders, government officials said President Reagan's budget and 
tax cuts were aimed at strengthening the role of churches in American 
society.  The religious community was challenged to fill the gap by 
increasing its charitable giving and volunteerism.  
 
     The 1982 General Assembly responded that the church does not define 
its primary responsibility in or to society in terms of welfare service. 
The Assembly insisted that the government bears primary responsibility to 
provide for the protection and well-being of its citizens and that  service 
to the poor and the needy is a matter of right and cannot be allowed to 
depend on voluntary charity. 
 
     Despite criticisms, Cook said he believes the summit was significant 
because a broad spectrum of leaders embraced the commitment to a new form 
of neighborliness. If this signals a new orientation in our culture, Cook 
said, then the church must do its best to "catch the wave" and use it to 
support the service and advocacy ministries of the denomination's 
congregations and ecumenical agencies. 
 
     Additionally, Cook said, a Nov. 1-3 churchwide consultation in 
Louisville titled "Service and Advocacy Ministry in the New Welfare 
Reality" should include some consideration of the summit's goals. 
Sponsored by the General Assembly Council, the consultation will feature 
Presbyterians from across the country experienced in the area of community 
service ministries and those with active programs of public policy 
advocacy. 

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