Wilson and Church Leaders Plan Fundraiser to Help Hurricane Victims

Dr. Willie Wilson is pledging to personally donate $100,000 to Hurricane Harvey victims. A group of local Chicago pastors are helping him with his cause. Photo Credit: Christopher Shuttlesworth
Dr. Willie Wilson is pledging to personally donate $100,000 to Hurricane Harvey victims. A group of local Chicago pastors are helping him with his cause. Photo Credit: Christopher Shuttlesworth

Wilson and Church Leaders Plan Fundraiser to Help Hurricane Victims

By Christopher Shuttlesworth

As national celebrities including the likes of Beyonce, Blake Shelton, Barbra Streisand and Oprah Winfrey came together last week for a one-hour telethon to benefit the victims of Hurricanes Irma and Harvey, Dr. Willie Wilson, a humanitarian from the South Suburbs of Chicago, stepped up to join the

cause.

Pledging $100,000 of his own money, Wilson said, he and a group of local pastors will travel to Texas to help storm victims in Houston.

On Aug. 25, Hurricane Harvey, a Category 4 storm, landed in southeast Texas, dropping record shattering rain resulting in extensive floods. Estimated damages for the U.S. have topped off at $75 billion, while CNN is reporting more than a million people have been displaced.

During a press conference last week, Wilson was flanked by a group of local Chicago pastors who plan to help him raise the funds. The pastors have set a goal of raising between $50,000 and $100,000. Pastors plan to raise the funds over the next six weeks via church collections.

Darryl K. Webster, pastor of the Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church, is expected to accompany Wilson on his trip to Houston and has already received a special church collection for the victims.

Pastors in Houston will identify the families without homes or food, Wilson said. “Then they will send the victim’s contact information to us and we will pass out cash money to families,”

he stated.

Pastor Dr. Robert Patterson of Spirit of Truth Baptist Church and president of the Baptist Pastors Conference said, he’s asked his conference and local pastors to raise additional funds by Oct. 28th for Wilson’s cause.

“This is what we do as Christians, citizens and clergymen to help the least of these,” Patterson said.

“We must not forget that whatever God does, he does it for our good. Sometimes he does it to let us know that we must have a heart for the people.”

Wilson will personally give the flood victims the money during a press conference on Oct. 29th at St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church, located on 4200 Lockwood Dr., in Houston, Texas, headed by Rev. Dr. Stan Hilliard.

“We’re getting to the root of the whole situation,” Wilson said. “We realize that there are other organizations in Houston, but some of these things take common sense. You don’t have to require paperwork to know that a family is hungry,” Wilson said.

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