Building Beloved Community Campaign

In 2022, the Session of First Presbyterian Church in Durham, NC voted to set aside $50,000 from our capital campaign to help eliminate debt for our neighbors in NC who have been saddled with overwhelming medical bills. Our first of three campaigns raised $26,000 and paid off $5 million in medical debt in NC in Durham and other counties in NC. Our first campaign targeted NC counties where people of color makeup over 50% of the population.   We did this to acknowledge and seek to repair (in a small way) the systemic racism that has left people of color in generational poverty and oppression.

We are not done yet!  We invite you to join us in this second of three campaigns which targets the counties with the greatest number of people of color in their boundaries (including Wake, Guilford, Forsyth, and Mecklenburg).  We do this as an additional effort to repair the damage that centuries of racial oppression has inflicted upon our siblings of color.

Joshua Eaton writes in the journal Sojourners:

Almost one in 10 American adults owes at least $250 in medical debt, according to a report released by the nonprofit, nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation last year. Of those, 11 million owed more than $2,000 and 3 million owed more than $10,000, the report found. And that burden fell most heavily on communities of color, the disabled, and those without health insurance.

Some churches’ RIP Medical Debt campaigns draw on the biblical concept of a Jubilee year from Leviticus 25, where God commands all debts be forgiven every 50 years.

Our campaign theme, “Building Beloved Community,” reflects the vision of philosopher Josiah Royce that was adopted and expanded by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Elder Sharon Hirsch of First Presbyterian Church in Durham has been a significant leader and voice for these campaigns.  She points to her faith, and her belief that we are to love our neighbors, as that which guides her in this work. “That’s core to what the biblical message is. And this is such a tangible way to put our prayers into action.”

In this second campaign, First Presbyterian Church in Durham is excited to partner with our sister congregation, University Presbyterian Church in Chapel Hill, NC.  Together, we will seed thecampaign with two significant gifts that total $27,000.  We invite other faith communities, neighbors, and individuals in North Carolina to contribute to this campaign or start your own.  Together, we can eliminate medical debt among those at 4x the poverty level and below!

Though our goal for this campaign is $35,000, we would love to see support that lifted the campaign to $50,000!  Every $1 donation can pay off approximately $100 (debts are purchased in bundles for a fraction of the original amount). 100% of campaign contributions are restricted to debt relief.

At the end of the campaign, RIP Medical Debt sends a letter to those whose debt is forgiven. When debt relief recipients open the letter from RIP, they will read that their debt has been bought and abolished with no strings attached, including no tax penalty. Having endured, in some cases, years of harassment, mental stress, and stigma associated with medical debt, this notice is truly a beacon of light and hope.

We hope you will join us in this exciting campaign that makes a real and lasting difference in those saddled with the weight of debt.  Help us build the beloved community by leveling the playing field and moving closer to a place where all, and not just some, might flourish.  

Campaign Support Recipients

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