[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 133 (Thursday, November 18, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S11489]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        REVEREND CECIL WILLIAMS

 Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I wish to recognize and share with 
my colleagues the compassion and dedication of Reverend Cecil Williams 
in honor of his 40 years of community service to the San Francisco 
community.
  Reverend Williams has been Pastor of San Francisco's Glide Memorial 
Church since the early 1960s. He has built a community congregation of 
over 10,000 members and is recognized as a national leader on the 
leading edge of social change.
  Reverend Williams has led Glide Memorial Church to be a political 
voice for equal rights and a safe haven for the oppressed. His 
congregation has lent its support to those who speak out on national 
issues of importance, such as the Vietnam war, nuclear weapon 
development, affirmative action and HIV/AIDS prevention.
  When Reverend Williams joined Glide Memorial Church in the 1960s, he 
transformed it into a sacred space that honors diversity, expression, 
and the celebration of life.
  I would like to share a couple examples of Reverend Williams' 
tremendous work. In the 1960s, Reverend Williams launched a free meal 
program at Glide that expanded in the 1980s to providing three meals a 
day to the hungry and homeless. The program currently serves over 1 
million meals a year to members of the larger San Francisco community.
  In the 1990s, feeling the need to reach out to those involved in drug 
abuse, Reverend Williams took his message against drugs into the 
community, using a bullhorn in front of housing projects to call 
addicts and dealers out to recovery.
  As Reverend Williams begins his 40th year at Glide Memorial Church, 
he is now serving as Glide's CEO and Minister of National and 
International Ministries. He continues to bring forth new ideas on how 
to battle the problems inflicting the San Francisco community, 
including poverty, drug abuse, violence and despair. He is a respected 
and revered leader who brings together people searching for acceptance, 
social justice and spiritual growth.
  I hope you will all join me in celebrating the remarkable service of 
Reverend Cecil Williams for the past 40 years at Glide Memorial Church. 
I wish him many more years of rewarding experiences to the San 
Francisco community and beyond.

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