The Foy Valentine Memorial Fund-Still Growing!
The Foy Valentine Memorial Fund-Still Growing!
On July 24, the Dallas Morning News published a one column half-page story titled, "Friends of Foy keeping dream alive." The article began with a picture of President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn, noting they were among the "Friends of Foy" supporting the effort to fulfill Foy`s dream of "an endowment large enough to guarantee [the Journal`s] future."
In the weeks that followed, about 20 persons who read the article sent in memorial gifts including three gifts of $1000, one for $5000 from a lawyer friend in Dallas, and one for $2000 from a Baylor classmate now in Sante Fe, NM. In addition, our long-time supporter David Smith of Houston (who made the bell which now rings at Foy`s Red River cabin), sent a magnanimous gift of $25,000 for which we give thanks.
The Dream
From the day Foy Valentine founded Christians Ethics Today in 1995, he envisioned an "independent prophetic voice for Christian ethics" that would "inform, inspire, and unify a lively company of individuals . . . working for personal morality and public righteousness."
William Spencer, the editor of Pricilla Papers (journal of Christians for Biblical Equality), recently wrote to say, "I thoroughly enjoy your journal. I read it from cover to cover the day it arrives . . . I don`t know how you do it! I struggle to get a fraction of the size out four times a year. I think you are in another league."
The Cost
For eleven years now, CET has been sent without charge to anyone requesting it-as Foy promised, "as long as money and energy permit!" This month we publish our sixty-first uninterrupted issue! In 1995, the first issues were sent to a few hundred-today over 5000 ministers, college and seminary professors, church leaders, and concerned laity receive CET! The cost-an unbelievable $80,000 per year for five issues.
Financial Support
Each year, through the voluntary contributions of almost 600 readers and supporters, our basic budget is met. Some summers it gets tight. Often in the past, either Foy, or a Board Member, or a loyal supporter would call and ask, "How are the finances?" And, in the moment of need a check for $1000, $5,000, or even more would arrive. Without these generous supporters, the Journal would not have been published these eleven years.
The Endowment Fund
During the past few years preceding his untimely death, Foy often expressed to our Board of Directors that we needed some permanent fund to underwrite the budget of the Journal, probably an endowment.
The initial $100,000 Memorial Gift from Foy`s long-time friend Harold Simmons, became the basis for our present effort to create this corpus. The purpose of this Foy Valentine Memorial Endowment Fund would be to provide from the interest accrued, financial support for the publishing of the Journal, as needed.
Initial Gifts Total $159,325
To date 84 persons have given $159,325. We are grateful for these initial donors: Jimmy and Linda Allen, Sarah F. Anders, Janis (Henson) Arrant, Patsy and Bob Ayres, Truett Baker, L. B. Berry, Terrell Blodgett, Florence Box, Paul Brewer, Judy Brooks, Mary Burkett, James E. Carter, Barbara Chafin, Ross Coggins, Forrest Conklin, Gary Cook, Robert and Margaret Cooper, H. E. Coty, James Crouch, Mary Ann Davis, Phoebe Delamarter, Juanice DuBose, T. W. and Sue Downing, Aubrey Ducker, Sarah and James Logan, Donald Dunlap, James Dunn, Roland Foster, V. C. Garrett, Jr., Duane Geiss, Edwin S. Gaustad, Glenn Gring, Marvin Harris, Virginia Hendricks, Argye Hillis, Wayne Hodge, Barry and Amanda Howard, Vester Hughes, Martha King, Neal Knighton, Matthew Krauss, James A. Langley, James Miller, Bob Mitchell, Mary Kay Mitchell, Darold H. Morgan, Mrs. Kenneth Moss, Bill Moyers, Charles Murphy, J. Kent Newsome, Oz Osborn, Alton Patton, Samuel and Annie Pearis, Janet Purvis, Herbert Reynolds, Mary Rickenbaker, Rob and Bettina Sandford, Frank G. Schwall, Jr., John Scott, Robert Scrutchins, H. N. Shannon, Elizabeth Sheaf, James Shields, Harold Simmons, Harold Simmons Foundation, Jay Skaggs, David M. Smith, Jerry P. Smith, Joseph Smith, Britt Towery, Joe and Audra Trull, William Turner, Penny Whorton Wells, Wendell Wentz, D.D. Westbrook, Yandall Woodfin, Elizabeth Woolverton, and James Wray.
Our hope and prayer is that this fund may reach $500,000-interest from this amount would provide almost one-half of our present annual budget of $80,000. Foy wrote with a fluent pen, a warm heart, and big dreams. The pen is silent, the heart is still, but the dream lives on. Help us fulfill Foy`s dream.
If you have any questions, please call one of our Friends of Foy Valentine Committee: Darold Morgan, Co-Chair (West)-Patsy Ayres, Doug Dillard, Buckner Fanning, Bob Feather, Bob Mitchell, or Herbert Reynolds. David Sapp, Co-Chair (East)-Jimmy and Linda Allen, President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn, Ross Coggins, James Dunn, Millard Fuller, Bill Moyers, or John Seigenthaler, Sr.
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