“For me it was all wine, all caffeine, it was all sugar, all fried products,” he said, “and all spending from Amazon.”
In all, Wesley said, about 14,000 people participated, and some fasters gave more than the amount equivalent to their change in spending habits.
“They actually gave about $870,000 and the church leadership said that’s too close to a million not to raise a million,” so the church used its Tithe-the-Tithe Initiative, which gives 10 percent of weekly donations it receives to help community groups.
Lott Carey, named for a former slave who gained his freedom and was a pioneer missionary in Africa, was founded in 1897.
The infusion of money to support the girls in Africa comes as Stewart concludes her historic leadership of the organization. In 2021, she became its first woman president, marking the first time a Black Baptist organization had chosen a female leader.
A former Lott Carey first vice president, she is expected to be succeeded on Friday by the Rev. Jesse T. Williams Jr., the current first vice president and senior pastor of Convent Avenue Baptist Church in Harlem, New York.
This article originally appeared here.
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