[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 50 (Thursday, April 24, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E736-E737]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO WILLIAM GAITER

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JACK QUINN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 24, 1997

  Mr. QUINN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in memory of Mr. William L. 
Gaiter.
  Mr. Gaiter dedicated his life to building a better community for all. 
His love for the community was exhibited through his tireless 
commitment to social change and civil rights for everyone.
  As an activist and civil rights leader, Mr. Gaiter was instrumental 
in improving the quality of education in Buffalo by persuading the 
Board of Education to establish the BUILD Academy--Build Unity, 
Independence, Liberty, and Dignity--of which he served as president.
  Along with Claudia Sims and Judson Price, Mr. Gaiter organized the 
first Juneteenth Festival, a western New York celebration of African-
American culture.
  In addition, Mr. Gaiter served as Erie County's equal employment 
opportunity coordinator in 1983, and headed the Student Timeout for 
Academic Renewal [STAR] counseling program.
  Mr. Gaiter touched the lives of people both in the United States and 
beyond. In 1984, as organizer of the Western New York Council for 
African Relief, Mr. Gaiter selected an African community, and developed 
cultural, economic, and social ties between it and western New York. He 
led a delegation to the Senegalese village of Malika to deliver money 
raised by 47,000 Buffalo schoolchildren. Mr. Gaiter's exceptional life 
of community service and activism serves as an example of what we 
should all be about--love, love of God, and love for our fellow man.

[[Page E737]]

  Mr. Speaker, today I would like to join with the city of Buffalo, and 
indeed, our entire western New York community, to honor Mr. Gaiter, a 
true community leader. I would also like to convey to the Gaiter family 
my deepest sympathies, and ask my colleagues in the House of 
Representatives to join with me in a moment of silence.

                          ____________________