Anonymous Donors Give $3 Million to Fund Scholarships After Charleston Shooting
By Abby Phillip
July 2 at 5:29 PM
A group of anonymous donors raised more than $3 million to establish a scholarship fund in the name of Clementa Pinckney, the slain pastor at Emanuel AME Church and a South Carolina state senator, Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. announced Thursday.
The fund, which Riley noted will continue to grow, is intended to ensure that Pinckney’s children and the children of the other victims of the massacre are able to pay for a college education. Additional scholarships will be awarded after criteria have been established.
In a statement, the donors said that they could not understand the “pain caused by the unimaginable tragedy” but sought to establish the fund to honor Pinckney, “who so profoundly embodied the values that bind us together as Americans.”
“We simply want members of the Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church community to know that the burdens of perseverance and empathy, which they have demonstrated with such dignity, do not fall exclusively on their shoulders,” the donors wrote in a statement. “We want them to know that others, most of whom do not share their race or religion, who do not come from South Carolina, abhor the injustices from which they have suffered and admire the ways the African-American community has enriched our nation.”
On June 17, Pinckney and eight others were killed by a gunman in the basement of the Charleston church during a Bible study. Police have charged Dylann Roof, 21, with the crime, which they said was racially motivated.
According to Riley, he received a call from Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. on behalf of the donors.
“He said that he had been contacted by people who wanted to be anonymous and wanted to do something to assist those who lost their loved ones,” Riley said, noting that Pinckney was an advocate for education both in the Charleston community and as a state lawmaker.
Riley added that he knows nothing about the donors.
“All I know is they are generous, loving Americans who wanted no credit, simply wanted to do their part in responding to this hateful outrage,” he said. “These people will never get a pat on the back, and they’ll never know the recipient of these scholarships.”
The Rev. Norvel Goff, presiding elder of Emanuel AME Church, said the congregation welcomes the “tremendous” gift.
“What a tremendous opportunity to show the world once more and again that goodness of heart overtakes evil,” Goff said, “and that we continuously show the world how we respond to a tragedy.”
“Isn’t it odd that this individual who sought to divide us has brought us together as never before?” he added. “Isn’t it odd that we can take a tragedy and show that the human spirit can still triumph over evil?”
Two other funds have been established in the wake of the Charleston killings. The Mother Emanuel Hope Fund has raised more than $1.2 million so far and a second fund that supports work in South Carolina, the Lowcountry Ministries – Reverend Pinckney Fund, has raised $600,000, Riley said.
Riley, Gates and businessman William M. Lewis Jr. will serve as initial board members. Representatives from Emanuel AME also will be involved in administering the fund, Goff said.
Riley also invited donors to continue to add to the fund at PinckneyFund.org.
“They’ll not only get a college education, but they will be receiving an important lesson about how human beings of good will respond to challenges and come together,” Riley said.
Abby Phillip is a general assignment national reporter for the Washington Post. She can be reached at abby.phillip@washpost.com. On Twitter: @abbydphillip
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| Widow and children of slain South Carolina State Senator Clementa Pinckney outside the Capitol building in Columbia on June 24, 2015. |
July 2 at 5:29 PM
A group of anonymous donors raised more than $3 million to establish a scholarship fund in the name of Clementa Pinckney, the slain pastor at Emanuel AME Church and a South Carolina state senator, Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. announced Thursday.
The fund, which Riley noted will continue to grow, is intended to ensure that Pinckney’s children and the children of the other victims of the massacre are able to pay for a college education. Additional scholarships will be awarded after criteria have been established.
In a statement, the donors said that they could not understand the “pain caused by the unimaginable tragedy” but sought to establish the fund to honor Pinckney, “who so profoundly embodied the values that bind us together as Americans.”
“We simply want members of the Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church community to know that the burdens of perseverance and empathy, which they have demonstrated with such dignity, do not fall exclusively on their shoulders,” the donors wrote in a statement. “We want them to know that others, most of whom do not share their race or religion, who do not come from South Carolina, abhor the injustices from which they have suffered and admire the ways the African-American community has enriched our nation.”
On June 17, Pinckney and eight others were killed by a gunman in the basement of the Charleston church during a Bible study. Police have charged Dylann Roof, 21, with the crime, which they said was racially motivated.
According to Riley, he received a call from Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. on behalf of the donors.
“He said that he had been contacted by people who wanted to be anonymous and wanted to do something to assist those who lost their loved ones,” Riley said, noting that Pinckney was an advocate for education both in the Charleston community and as a state lawmaker.
Riley added that he knows nothing about the donors.
“All I know is they are generous, loving Americans who wanted no credit, simply wanted to do their part in responding to this hateful outrage,” he said. “These people will never get a pat on the back, and they’ll never know the recipient of these scholarships.”
The Rev. Norvel Goff, presiding elder of Emanuel AME Church, said the congregation welcomes the “tremendous” gift.
“What a tremendous opportunity to show the world once more and again that goodness of heart overtakes evil,” Goff said, “and that we continuously show the world how we respond to a tragedy.”
“Isn’t it odd that this individual who sought to divide us has brought us together as never before?” he added. “Isn’t it odd that we can take a tragedy and show that the human spirit can still triumph over evil?”
Two other funds have been established in the wake of the Charleston killings. The Mother Emanuel Hope Fund has raised more than $1.2 million so far and a second fund that supports work in South Carolina, the Lowcountry Ministries – Reverend Pinckney Fund, has raised $600,000, Riley said.
Riley, Gates and businessman William M. Lewis Jr. will serve as initial board members. Representatives from Emanuel AME also will be involved in administering the fund, Goff said.
Riley also invited donors to continue to add to the fund at PinckneyFund.org.
“They’ll not only get a college education, but they will be receiving an important lesson about how human beings of good will respond to challenges and come together,” Riley said.
Abby Phillip is a general assignment national reporter for the Washington Post. She can be reached at abby.phillip@washpost.com. On Twitter: @abbydphillip
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