WILL SMITH GIVES A BORN-AGAIN CHRISTIAN BASED ORGANIZATION $250,000: A-lister and wife, Jada gave over a million to religious, civic and arts groups.
gospel | Jan 12, 2009 | Comments 2
Just-released tax returns for movie star Will Smith’s charitable foundation show that he and wife, Jada, gave $1.3 million in donations last year to a variety of religious, civic and arts groups. Will Smith’s biggest single contribution was, as usual, Yesha Ministries of Philadelphia.
He gave the born-again Christian based organization run by Reverend James Robinson a whopping $250,000. That’s a hefty raise from the $140,000 he gave them the previous year. Another $200,000 went to a Christian ministry outside Los Angeles called Living Waters.
He also gave a combined $122,500 to the Church of Scientology, broken into these donations: $67,500 to the New York Rescue Workers Detoxication Fund, $50,000 to the group’s Celebrity Center in Hollywood and $5,000 to ABLE, another Scientology offshoot. Will Smith and Jada have also supported a private school called New Village Academy they opened this fall in suburban Los Angeles that uses Scientology learning concepts.
The rapper turned film star of movies such as “Hancock,” “I Am Legend,” and the upcoming “Seven Pounds” also donated thousands of dollars to a Los Angeles mosque, other Christian-based schools and churches, and to the Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Center in Israel. And though Smith is not featured in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” he also sent $25,000 to the Progeria Research Foundation. Progeria is a disease that causes rapid aging.
The newest federal tax filing for the Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith Foundation covers 2007, and there is no donation to New Village Academy. So far there is no listing with guidestar.org, the website that tracks charities and not-for-profit institutions, for New Village. That seems odd since it was announced more than a year ago that Smith had given them a $1 million endowment.
According to an article by Roger Friedman (www.FoxNews.com) it’s the Smiths’ intense and sudden friendship with Tom Cruise over the last couple of years that sparked speculation the superstar couple had joined Scientology. But Smith told him earlier this year that he was definitely not a Scientologist.
He told “Access Hollywood” some time before that, “I was introduced [to] it by Tom and I’m a student of world religion. I was raised in a Baptist household, I went to a Catholic school, but the ideas of the Bible are 98 percent the same ideas of Scientology, 98 percent the same ideas of Hinduism and Buddhism.” (Source: FoxNews/www.GospelNewsWire.com)
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Filed Under: Featured • Gospel Industry News
Hello, my name is Mary Young. I have been searching for a way to apply for grant funding or a charitable contribution from the Will and Jada Smith Foundation, but I have not been successful. Our organization is in desperate need of funds and we have made every sacrifice to open a new multi-purpose building that will be ideal for the poorest city in the United States and that is the City of Washington Park and East St. Louis! In doing so our church is struggling, because we are not able to finish the building because we ran out of funds, and the moment we began to build, our first payment of about $19,000.00 became due. Seven months later the building is still not complete and we are still paying that bill and we can’t hardly pay our own church bills, trying to keep them from taking the building and our church, which is so needed for the area. Please see the attached:
July 1, 2009
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Mary A. Young. I am the Executive Secretary of the House of Prayer to all Nations Church and the House of Prayer Christian Academy. The pastor and chairman of both of these non for profit organizations is Suffragan Bishop John H. Pettiford. HOPTAN and HOPCA both are located in Washington Park, Illinois. We are writing you concerning HOPCA which is a new project that is underway that is located directly next to our church building called House of Prayer Christian Academy and a Multi-purpose Building.
At this time, we so desperately solicit your support of a donation to our House of Prayer Christian Academy Multi-purpose Building project which is located in the heart of Washington Park, Illinois in the Metropolitan St. Louis area of Clair County and is located ten miles East of St. Louis, Missouri, of which both are the poorest cities in the United States.
In our endeavor to set up a program to help the inner city youths and the entire City of Washington Park, our church has fallen deep into debt trying to those that are so desperately in need of support both educationally, financially and spiritually. Immediately after we started the building of this project, the first payment became due of about $19,000.00 a month. At this time the project is not complete and therefore no funds are coming in to complete the project nor to pay on the existing loan. Therefore, we are using every cent we can get our hands on to pay this bill in order to keep them from taking not only our new building that is not complete as well as our church. We can barely pay our church bills, for paying on this building project which was strictly designed with this city in mind.
There is an estimated 5,345 people in Washington Park which is located in a rural and poverty stricken area. It is a low income area where most of the people are unemployed and on fixed incomes. In 2000, Washington Park had a median family income of $23,266. The number of the population here that is in poverty is 2,387 or 44.8 % of the community. Approximately 57% of housing in Washington Park is owner-occupied. Tax haters might appreciate the relatively low real estate taxes in the village.
Only about 27 % of the adults in Washington Park are married. The children here are young and many, even though there are a lot of families. This village also has a larger percentage of females than most places who are struggling to make ends meet for their children, due to many of them being unwed mothers and having to raise their children alone.
As you know poverty is a deprivation of common necessities that determine the quality of life, which includes food, clothing, shelter and safe drinking water as well as the deprivation of opportunities to learn. Ninety percent of the children born in this area are born into poverty and unlike other children born with an excess and the ability to attend good day care centers and schools and of which many take for granted. Whereas the only thing most of these children know is to be poor and deprived of those goods and services. To me poverty is mainly considered to be undesirable due to the pain and suffering it may cause.
It is our endeavor to continue to assist this community in any way we can. In the past, we have assisted with a food pantry and clothing give away; we have also given out food baskets during the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holiday, as well as toys. For the last few years we have pick several families who were really in need and have given them boxes of food, clothing and toys during the Christmas season, drive e community here as always in any way we can to make this community of low income people a striving place to live. In this city there is not one large grocery store near for the community to purchase groceries nor a shopping center to shop. The jobs here are also few.
We are building a multi-purpose building here in Washington Park. In this building there will be a day care center, a senior day care, rooms for computer classes and to assist in helping both young men and women obtain other means of education so they can land better jobs and get off of welfare. In this building we will also expand our Helping Hand services which have assisted many families in finding job placement, homes and with paying their bills or locating agencies that can help them. There will also be a gymnasium that will be opened to the Washington Park community youths in an endeavor to mentor them and give them a safe haven to play and get them off of the alcohol and drug infested streets and away from gang violence. We will be offering GED classes to the public; many of our youths have dropped out of school due to a lack of the proper mentorship, one parent in the home and peer pressure. It is our endeavor to help educate and encourage the youths in any way we can to further their education. We will also have job counseling and placement programs.
This project has been underway since about June of 2008, after several years of planning and trying to secure a loan to begin the work and was set for completion near the end of December 2008. However, at this time we are at a stand still and we are not able to complete the entire project due to the fact that the loan we received was not sufficient to finish the second level of the building. In our search we have found that it is very difficult to obtain any grant monies without the completion of the building and especially foundation grants for a non-for-profit organization.
At this time we are soliciting your financial support of any amount that you would be willing to donate toward to most needed effort! HOPCA is a non-for profit organization, with 501 C 3. This project is geared toward helping and bettering the community of Washington Park, with our main focus being directed toward the youths.
The new administration of Washington Park is doing a lot of development in this area as well. They have just completed and opened a new school building which is located directly across the street from our church and the Multipurpose building center. A new shopping center and a small market are underway which will also bring in new businesses as well as new jobs and hope for the community. Just this year alone they have torn down a lot of abandoned houses and cleaned up several areas filled with debris as well as new street construction.
With a little more funding and help from Philanthropist such as yourself, who have a great concern for the youths, we can help others achieve a portion of the American Dream. I believe that there is hope for the City of Washington Park and the entire Metro East area. I am a born and raised native and unlike many who have left this area to take up residency in other places, I join with the faithful few to help assist those in need by assisting in this project to make like a little more enjoyable for our future generation, which is our children.
Many of our seniors and children are undernourished and are not always supplied the proper nourishment, but with our senior care and day care programs, we can give them at least two healthy meals a day as well as assist the seniors in making the last days of their lives just a little more enjoyable by bringing them together with other seniors in the community with fellowship and give them something special to look forward to on a day to day basis.
Your support in this project will be much appreciated by not only HOPCA, but by the entire village of Washington Park area and all those that utilize this facility whether it be the children who will enjoy having somewhere to play that will keep them off the streets and give them shelter from the storm and rain; the children who will be attending our Daycare center that will have a good start in life to a better education; or the young people of these children that have had many babies out of wedlock that will have an opportunity to learn and find better jobs which lead to better housing and nicer environments; and finally our seniors who will be healthy and happy and can enjoy their grandchildren’s presence and not just on their sick beds, as well as many others who will take part of these services.
Many are not aware of how children and families suffer in the rural areas due to poverty and neglect and because many areas are drug infested and the parents are not able to properly care for their children, but through many of our programs we will education the children and help the parents. Through our church alone, we have seen many couples come off the street and be changed over night through our tent revivals and through counseling by some of the members here.
We are also putting together a souvenir booklet which will also be used to assist us financially and it will show all of our sponsors and supporters. In the past, the Lord has always blessed us to be a blessing to others as we have donated funds to many different organizations to assist those that are in need in food drives, such United Way, Red Cross, Food Pantries and those in the Foreign Fields. We have always been eager to donate funds and our support to other organizations charitable organizations.
After receiving information concerning your foundation, and hearing about all that you have done through this program, we hope and pray that you will be able to assist us in this most urgent matter. Our desire is improve not only the spiritual welfare of this area, but the social welfare of humanity as well. We want you to know that we will be more than honored to receive any donation, whether small or great to help us in our efforts to forward this project that will be a blessing to many of all ages.
If you would like more information, please feel free to visit our web site at HOPTAN.org and or if you have any questions concerning our request or this project, please feel free to contact me or my Secretary Evangelist Mary Young at 618-274-3850 / 800-368-3865 or on our cells at 618-530-7049 or 48. You can also contact our program coordinator Mr. Anthony Pettiford at 618-407-3579.
Respectfully submitted with gratitude,
Suffragan Bishop John H. Pettiford,
Chairman
Evangelist Mary A. Young,
Executive Secretary
We reachout to people living with hiv/aids, orphans and widows. We need funds to help with the ministry work. Please help. YOURS IN HIS AMAZIÑG GRACE. BEN & PAULINE.