[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 21 (Thursday, March 5, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H854-H855]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 FREEDOM WORKS AWARD TO FAMILY MISSIONS

  (Mr. ARMEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I am honored today to present the Freedom 
Works Award to the Family Missions of the D.C. area. I established the 
Freedom Works Award to celebrate freedom by recognizing individuals and 
groups who promote personal responsibility instead of reliance on the 
government.
  The Family Missions was founded in 1968 and has chapters in most 
cities across the United States. It is a privately funded charitable 
religious organization made up of families who believe their Christian 
duty is best served by assisting and operating homeless shelters, soup 
kitchens and offering other human services assistance within their 
communities. Their activities

[[Page H855]]

have ranged from delivering 2 tons of milk weekly for the last 4 years 
to D.C.-area soup kitchens, to serving as Red Cross deputies in Florida 
during the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew.
  It really warms my heart to see these young people doing all they can 
to help people in need. The Family Missions volunteers also help 
teenage runaways and shelters for battered women. This organization has 
taken on these difficult tasks and more without receiving a single 
penny of Federal assistance. Instead, they have relied on the personal 
initiative taken by Cindy Thompson, Sam Lloyd, Brian Thomas Edwards and 
Lisa Salazar, and a long list of other members of the family.
  The success of the Family Missions is based on the simple belief that 
there is no greater love for our fellow man than to be willing to lay 
down our life for them.
  Mr. Speaker, government alone cannot solve our Nation's problems. 
That does not mean we simply throw up our hands in frustration. It 
means every single one of us, no matter what our politics, must roll up 
our sleeves and do the work each of us is capable of doing to rebuild 
our neighborhoods and communities. Every day groups like the Family 
Missions demonstrate the understanding that with freedom comes 
responsibility.
  Sadly enough, there is far more homelessness and hunger in this great 
Nation than any of us are willing to accept. Poor and distressed people 
need hope, they need love, they need people willing to come to them, if 
necessary, who will show they care. They found all these things and 
more in the Family Missions.
  If we are a great country today, then if we are going to be a great 
country in the future, it will be because of groups like Family 
Missions.

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