ABHMS To Aid Tornado-Ravaged Shaw University

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> ABHMS To Aid Tornado-Ravaged Shaw University

VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 4/21/11)?American Baptist
Home Mission Societies (ABHMS) will present a
$10,000 One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS) domestic
disaster grant to aid in clean-up and rebuilding
efforts at Shaw University, which suffered
tornado damage on April 16. The Raleigh, N.C.,
school will be closed for the remainder of the semester.

The student union building and dormitories

suffered tremendous structural damage and trees
were uprooted, but no injuries have been
reported, according to a press release issued by
university president Irma McClaurin, Ph.D.

?Dr. Irma McClaurin, the faculty, staff and
students of Shaw University and Divinity School
are in our prayers. The first historically black
university of the South, Shaw has handled every
man-made political, economic and social assault
on its mission to educate and improve the lives
of African-American youth,? says ABHMS Executive
Director Dr. Aidsand F. Wright-Riggins III. ?The
recent tornadic activity that damaged property is
but a gentle wind compared to the constructive
power of the life-transforming Spirit that has
consistently blown through Shaw?s history since
1865. The Easter promise is Shaw?s as well.
Because Christ lives, they will face tomorrow.?

A member of the American Baptist Association of
Colleges and Universities, the private,
co-educational liberal arts school awards undergraduate and graduate degree s.

?My heart sank when I first heard via the news
that Shaw had been so severely damaged that the
school had to close for the term,? says Dr. A.
Roy Medley, general secretary of American Baptist
Churches USA. ?I know the generous hearts of our
American Baptists, and I am confident that they
will respond to the challenge Shaw faces in restoring its campus.?

To donate to the Shaw University-designated OGHS
offering, contact Victoria Goff, ABHMS national
coordinator of Volunteer Ministries, at
800-ABC-3USA, x2449, or vgoff@abhms.org.

ABHMS?the domestic mission arm of American
Baptist Churches USA?ministers as the caring
heart and serving hands of Jesus Christ across
the United States and Puerto Rico through a
multitude of initiatives that focus on discipleship, community and justice.

American Baptist Churches is one of the most
diverse Christian denominations today, with 5,500
local congregations comprised of 1.3 million
members, across the United States and Puerto
Rico, all engaged in God?s mission around the world.