[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 18]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 24905]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              HONORING WILLIAM MURDOCK AND ELBEN CHARITIES

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. HEATH SHULER

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 19, 2007

  Mr. SHULER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the exceptional 
service of a most distinguished constituent, William Murdock. Mr. 
Murdock serves as Executive Director of the Eblen Charities and Eblen 
Center for Social Enterprise, an Asheville-based non-profit 
organization that assists low-income children, adults, and families 
battling illnesses and disabilities.
  Mr. Murdock is a graduate of Asheville Buncombe Technical Community 
College, Mars Hill College, Duke University, and the Harvard Business 
School. Along with his work at Eblen Charities, Mr. Murdock lectures at 
Duke University and has been named an outstanding scholar in social 
enterprise by the International Biographical Centre of Cambridge, 
England.
  Growing up in Asheville, North Carolina, Mr. Murdock developed a 
passion for wrestling which he pursued as a student-athlete and then as 
a high school coach. He is widely regarded as one of wrestling's 
preeminent historians and was most recently honored as the first 
recipient of the Lou Thesz World Heavyweight Championship Award. The 
award recognizes an individual connected with wrestling who has ``taken 
the skills, courage and mental toughness that are the essentials of the 
sport and has applied those characteristics to the realm of public 
service.'' In nearly two decades of service at the Eblen Charities, Mr. 
Murdock has done that and more.
  Under his leadership, Eblen Charities has grown from a two-person 
partnership that assisted 300 families in 1991 to a world-class 
organization that served 65,000 in 2006. Mr. Murdock currently oversees 
roughly 60 programs designed to help families in western North Carolina 
secure health care coverage, low-cost prescription drugs, heating and 
cooling for their homes, and other life essentials. In so doing, Mr. 
Murdock delivers hope in trying times and the wherewithal to meet 
whatever challenges might lie ahead.
  His example serves to remind us that a single individual, armed with 
compassion, ingenuity, and resolve, can do extraordinary things. I am 
honored to represent Mr. Murdock in the United States Congress, and I 
ask my colleagues to join me in applauding his outstanding work.

                          ____________________