Repair the Hopewell Baptist Church
On Tuesday, November 1st, 2016, unknown criminals burned a predominantly black Baptist church in Greenville, Mississippi and scrawled graffiti on it: "Vote Trump". (Link to local news coverage.)
The animus of this election cycle combined with the potent racial history of burning black churches as a political symbol makes this event something we must not ignore.
Only two weeks ago, the internet came together to help repair a North Carolina GOP field office that had been burned by thugs. Justice demands we do the same now.
More details as they are available. Can we do this? Can we help show the world, the country, and most importantly, the churchgoers of Hopewell Baptist that we, as a society, are better than this?
Please give. Thanks.
UPDATE , 2/2 11AM:
We are working to get in touch with the Hopewell M.B. church leadership, and have already spoken to other church leaders in Greenville today. There is a press conference this morning at the Greenville Fire Department, where more information is being released. More details as they come.
UPDATE, 2/2 1:15PM:
I just got off the phone with Bishop Clarence Green from Hopewell M.B. Church, and let him know about this GFM campaign. He was very pleasantly surprised, and wanted to thank all the donors.
The Bishop is still on-site and has no access to a computer now, but as soon as he can, he will sign up Hopewell as an organization on GFM. This will allow GFM to wire all funds to their bank account directly. You can see the overhead that GFM charges here.
Thank you, so very, very much, to everyone who has donated. Your actions have shown that we are better than this.
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The animus of this election cycle combined with the potent racial history of burning black churches as a political symbol makes this event something we must not ignore.
Only two weeks ago, the internet came together to help repair a North Carolina GOP field office that had been burned by thugs. Justice demands we do the same now.
More details as they are available. Can we do this? Can we help show the world, the country, and most importantly, the churchgoers of Hopewell Baptist that we, as a society, are better than this?
Please give. Thanks.
UPDATE , 2/2 11AM:
We are working to get in touch with the Hopewell M.B. church leadership, and have already spoken to other church leaders in Greenville today. There is a press conference this morning at the Greenville Fire Department, where more information is being released. More details as they come.
UPDATE, 2/2 1:15PM:
I just got off the phone with Bishop Clarence Green from Hopewell M.B. Church, and let him know about this GFM campaign. He was very pleasantly surprised, and wanted to thank all the donors.
The Bishop is still on-site and has no access to a computer now, but as soon as he can, he will sign up Hopewell as an organization on GFM. This will allow GFM to wire all funds to their bank account directly. You can see the overhead that GFM charges here.
Thank you, so very, very much, to everyone who has donated. Your actions have shown that we are better than this.
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Hello--I am working with Bishop Green at Hopewell and want to make sure this money goes to the church. Can you please call me? 662-801-5357 Cristen Hemmins in Oxford, MS
Hi All--I have been in touch with Blair, who set up this GoFundMe page, multiple times today, and I feel confident that he is legit and wants this money to go directly to the church.
The way GoFundMe works, a contact from Hopewell church will have to contact GFM with an EIN, personal SS#, and bank info. Then and only then will GFM transfer the funds raised. Blair Reeves who set this up will never access the money. I am trying to get a PO Box or contact info for the church, in case people would prefer to mail a check the old-fashioned way (so the church gets 100%). Everyone in Greenville is very busy, understandably. I have called Mayor Simmons's office twice, and Fire Chief Brown's office as well. If I can get a mailing address for donations, I will post it here.
I came to this page from an article on Huffpost. The article states Huffpost has been in contact with GoFundMe personnel who have assured the news agency that they will only release the funds directly to tbs church so I doubt you have to worry about your money not going where it's supposed to.
I am a Trump supporter who HATES what has been done by hoodlums and want to send a donation to the church. But the number given by Christen will not take my cell phone call! I need some responsible information ASAP! THANKS someone!
I spoke to the reporter he verified the go fund me.
No real Trump supporter would ever do this. Donation page is going out to all his real supporters. Time to come together and end this kind of hate. Trump love all and I am certain will be horrified about this hate crime. There is no way he or anyone connected to him would ever do this. I pray for the person who did. May God forgive you.
People I'm really thinking this is a scam. I don't see anyone from the church commenting. I'm doubting very seriously that Pastor Green would go this route especially this early in the game. I wouldn't donate. If you want to donate go directly to the church in sure they have non-profit status.
Questions the creator of this account lives in North Carolina. Mr Reeves stated in his updated that he has spoken with the pastor who does not have computer access at the moment to give information to were the funds can be sent! We have recent comments that state that the pastor was just spoken with. Im scared that the pastor is unaware of this account the church has taken a tremenedous loss. It would be terrible to use this as a sceme. Hopeully this is a legitimate page and ALL funds will be donated to the church. If not whomever is behind it MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON YOUR SOUL
People don't be fooled. This was orchestrated by Democrats. They're panicking.
We are better than this. A few bad apples don't represent everyone. Our thoughts in prayers are with you all.
This smells of Clinton camp shadiness..
Trump supporters burning a black church in Mississippi a week before the election and advertising it in big white letters? Seriously? No way. Tell them to get the money from the DNC. This is a false flag if I ever saw one.
If I donate, I will donate directly to the church. The church hopefully incorporated as a non-profit religious organization and should already have in place transparent and accountable structures for tax deductible donations. If not, then I would see if it could donate to its governing body, the Missionary Baptists. Why should I donate through gofundme and why should gofundme get a cut of my donation for an organization such as a church which is already set up to accept its own donations?
This was from Cristen's facebook page about an hour ago...."Ok, I just got off the phone with Blair Reeves--looked on his FB page, found out where he works, called and asked for him and got him, at SAS in Manhattan. Seems legit, and he is about to call the Bishop himself--had his # from Justin White. Feel free to donate to that GoFundMe."
Is this money actually going to get to the church??? Nobody answered that yet.
Applause Paws-- your link is an article from a year ago.
See the update above from Blair on the plan to directly transfer funds from GoFundMe to Hopewell MB Church Bishop Clarence Green
Hello Cristen, do we know if this is a legitimate page?
Conservatives have to stop blaming all their problems on African Americans. It is not acceptable to burn down their churches. It just isn't. We know many of these Republicans switched to the Republican Party after the Civil Rights Act of 1964. They never wanted African Americans to have their rights -- and that is vile. But this is unacceptable, and it needs to be checked.