[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 55 (Thursday, May 1, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3917-S3918]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                ``REBUILDING EVERY BURNED BLACK CHURCH''

 Mr. BUMPERS. Mr. President, the February edition of Delta 
Airline's Sky magazine contained an article about one of this Nation's 
finest corporate citizens, the International Paper Co.
  IP has donated lumber and building materials to the National Council 
of Churches in its efforts to rebuild black churches burned by 
arsonists in recent years. One such church torched in 1994 was 
Friendship Missionary Baptist in Proctor, Crittenden County, AR.
  Last year International Paper stepped in to help this congregation. 
Today a new Friendship Missionary Baptist Church is under construction.
  Mr. President, I want to commend this fine corporate citizen for the 
role it is playing to reverse the misery and hardship that has been 
caused by these church burnings.
  I commend the article to my colleagues and ask that it be printed in 
the Record.
  The article follows:

                       [From Sky, February 1997]

                  Rebuilding Every Burned Black Church


  led by ceo john t. dillon, international paper has gone into ``the 
                          blessing business''

                          (By Timothy Harper)

       On Thanksgiving Day 1994, an arsonist apparently torched 
     the Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Proctor, 
     Arkansas. It was one of the first in a series of deliberately 
     set fires that spread through predominantly black churches 
     across the South. Many Americans, of every color, were 
     appalled. Not just about race and religion, these were 
     attacks on the ideals of equality and freedom in America. Our 
     concept of what constitutes a civilized society was being 
     violated.
       In subsequent months, dozens more black churches were 
     burned, and by the late spring and early summer of 1996, the 
     incidents had become a compelling national story. The FBI 
     began investigating. The National Council of Churches 
     established the Burned Churches Fund. Churches, companies and 
     individuals across the nation made contributions to help 
     congregations rebuild.
       Many of the burned churches' congregations were poor, 
     however, and didn't know if they could rebuild, even with 
     donations. Until June 27, 1996, that is. One that date, John 
     T. Dillon, chairman and chief executive officer of 
     International Paper, the world's largest wood products 
     company, quietly told the National Council of Churches that 
     his company would donate lumber and building materials from 
     his company's broad range of construction products.
       In his private letter to the Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell, 
     general secretary of the National Council of Churches, Dillon 
     promised to provide as much as was needed to rebuild every 
     church. He put no ceiling on the amount of material to be 
     donated, or the cost. Dillon merely asked the Council, which 
     is overseeing the reconstruction of the churches, to 
     coordinate the effort to make sure that every church got what 
     it needed to rebuild.
       Purchase, New York-based International Paper, which had 
     revenues in 1995 of nearly $20 billion and employs about 
     88,000 people around the world, provides the burned churches 
     with lists of the company's wood and building materials, 
     including beams, flooring, walls, sheeting, siding, shingles, 
     doors and countertops. Churches, with the help of officials 
     from the National Council of Churches, check off what they 
     need and send the list back to International Paper. For 
     churches that were burned to the ground, International Paper 
     is providing up to 100 percent of the materials the company 
     has to offer--and absorbing the costs.
       Today, with a shipment of wood and materials from 
     International Paper, a new Friendship Missionary Baptist 
     Church is under construction near Proctor. ``It's a wonderful 
     thing,'' says Charles Eason, a deacon who is helping oversee 
     the rebuilding. ``We're just a small rural church, and this 
     donation has made the difference for us. We don't know when 
     we would have been able to rebuild without it.''
       In a memo to International employees explaining the 
     donation, Dillon noted that many of the company's mills and 
     local branches are is small towns across the South. ``Beyond 
     the instant tragedy associated with this wanton 
     destruction, these events strike at the essence of what 
     makes small-town communities so special,'' Dillon wrote. 
     ``For International Paper, small towns and small-town 
     values have long been an important part of our history. 
     The spirit of unity, dedication to purpose and pride in 
     performing well that are so fundamental to these 
     communities have also been indispensable to our company's 
     success. This link, together with the premium we place on 
     corporate citizenship, requires that International Paper 
     respond in this time of need.''
       The Rev. Albert Pennybacker, who is overseeing the church 
     reconstruction program for the National Council of Churches, 
     says 124 churches were damaged by burnings. Some were rebuilt 
     before the offer from International Paper, but he and 
     International Paper officials estimate that ``several dozen'' 
     churches ultimately will receive free wood and building 
     materials.
       ``This is a really remarkable gesture by International 
     Paper, a remarkable commitment,'' Pennybacker says. ``We were 
     overwhelmed by [their] generosity.'' Beyond making the wood 
     and materials available, he says, International Paper has 
     made an extraordinary, perhaps unprecedented, promise to make 
     deliveries right to the churches.
       That is no small or easily fulfilled promise. Since many of 
     the burned churches are in isolated areas, down country lanes 
     or out in the middle of farm fields, on land no one else 
     wanted, those special deliveries are often far off the 
     company's established delivery routes, taking drivers and 
     trucks out of their usual rotations. Moreover, International 
     Paper promised to make deliveries within a few days of 
     receiving orders from the churches, thereby adding many 
     thousands of dollars in staff time and rescheduling headaches 
     to the total cost of the company's donation.
       Pennybacker says the National Council of Churches 
     originally guessed that the donated materials would be worth 
     $1 million, but he now believes the cost to International 
     Paper could be $2 million or more--at wholesale prices, not 
     counting the considerable costs of delivery. That means an 
     actual savings of several million dollars for churches that 
     otherwise would have to go out and buy their materials at 
     retail prices.
       International Paper, meanwhile, does not seem to care what 
     the contribution will end up costing. ``This is an open-ended 
     commitment and, frankly, we're not sure just how much it's 
     going to cost,'' says Carl Gagliardi, the International Paper 
     executive coordinating the program out of the company's 
     Memphis, Tennessee, office. ``This is one of the best things 
     this company has ever done. It's been terrific for morale.''
       Indeed, when International Paper's rank-and-file employees 
     received Dillon's note outlining the company's commitment to 
     the burned churches, many of them clamored to be part of it. 
     A few weeks later, Pennybacker got a call at his office at 
     the National Council of Churches headquarters in New York. An 
     International Paper representative wanted to come in and drop 
     off some donations from employees. Pennybacker expected ``a 
     few thousand dollars, maybe.'' The executive showed up with a 
     big box and dumped on Pennybacker's desk checks worth $37,787 
     from employees. He turned over another check for the same 
     amount from International Paper, for a total donation of 
     $75,574, and explained that Dillon had decreed that the 
     company would match workers' individual donations dollar for 
     dollar.
       ``During the past several weeks, I received several notes 
     from employees who were eager to contribute to the fund and 
     were eloquent in expressing their appreciation for the 
     company's support for the rebuilding of the churches and 
     communities that were victimized,'' Dillon said in a follow-
     up companywide note. ``I am extremely proud, but unsurprised, 
     by the compassion, community concern and civic responsibility 
     represented

[[Page S3918]]

     by your contributions to the Burned Churches Fund. It is just 
     another indication of why I feel so strongly about the men 
     and women who make International Paper's team so 
     extraordinary.''
       One aspect of this story is perhaps even more 
     extraordinary: International Paper did not publicize its 
     donation--no corporate news conference, no announcement, not 
     even a press release. Dillon apparently did not want the 
     donation to be seen as a bid for publicity.
       The article you are reading would never have been written 
     if the author had not happened to hear about the donation 
     from a Presbyterian minister who has a friend working at the 
     National Council of Churches. When Sky contacted 
     International Paper headquarters, the publicity staff--
     professionals who are paid well to make sure Dillon and the 
     company look good--agreed to provide copies of Dillon's notes 
     to his company's work force but rebuffed a request to 
     interview the CEO for this article as ``not necessary.''
       Dozens of black congregations across the South, meanwhile, 
     are eager to sing the praises of International Paper. ``Oh, 
     good!'' Shirley Hines exclaimed when told that Sky was 
     running a story about the International Paper donation. 
     Hines, in charge of the rebuilding committee at Greater Mount 
     Zion Tabernacle Church in Portsmouth, Virginia, says the 
     congregation did not know if the church could be rebuilt 
     after it burned in May 1995; the estimated cost of $340,000 
     was just too much.
       International Paper's donation last autumn of wood, doors, 
     wall paneling and other building supplies, however, took care 
     of three-quarters of the cost of materials and let the 
     congregation celebrate Christmas in its new, rededicated 
     church. ``International Paper told us to tell them what we 
     needed. We faxed in a list, and in less than a week it was 
     here. It was unbelievable,'' Hines says. ``If not for 
     International Paper, this church would have had to wait two 
     or three years to reopen, if it ever did.''
       Hines recalled the dreary day when she, her pastor and 
     several other church members waited in the rain for the first 
     lumber delivery. When the big truck pulled up, she says, they 
     laughed and shouted and cried and danced in the rain, 
     snapping pictures of the forklift unloading the first pallets 
     of wood that would become their new church.
       ``It made us realize that God is real,'' she says, ``and He 
     is still in the blessing business.''

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