Reverend Clementa Pinckney was among the nine victims of the recent Charleston shooting.
Anonymous donors have raised more than $3 million to create a scholarship fund in honor of Reverend Clementa C. Pinckney, the senior pastor of Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the nine people killed by a gunman in the basement of the Charleston church last month in June. The scholarship was announced by the mayor of Charleston, Joseph Riley, on Thursday at a news conference in Charleston.
"We do not pretend to understand the pain caused by this unimaginable tragedy. 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. 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," the anonymous donors issued in a statement.
The scholarship was appropriately named after Reverend Pinckney who was known as a man who highly valued education.
"The loss of Rev. Pinckney and the death of the faithful eight who perished with him cuts deep, but through this educational fund, Rev. Pinckney's already rich legacy will ripple across time, promoting the values of learning and public service he so nobly embodied in word and in sterling deed," said Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who will serve as a board member of the fund.
The fund will provide scholarships to pay for undergraduate and advanced degrees for "the members of the extended Mother Emanuel AME Church community including the families of the victims of the June 17, 2015 tragedy," the city said in a statement. The fund is intended to see to it that Pinckney's children and the children of the other victims are able to afford a college education.
Mayor Riley received a call from Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., informing him of the donations made by the donors who wished to remain anonymous.
"To know that the children of this community will have increased access to an excellent education is so very heartwarming. We are grateful for this gift for their future," Mayor Joseph Riley said in a statement. "The generosity of these anonymous donors has touched all of us."
Mayor Riley; Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.; and William M. Lewis Jr., a Wall Street executive will oversee the fund as board members. The criteria for the scholarship have not yet been established.
Contributions can be made online at www.pinckneyfund.org or can be sent to:
Reverend Pinckney Scholarship Fund
c/o The Mayor's Office, City of Charleston
80 Broad Street, Charleston, SC 29401
