Churches get gifts of organs

Web posted September 27, 1997

By Virginia Norton
Staff Writer

A Lutheran church in Ohio has donated 15 organs to burned churches in South Carolina.

``We put an ad in the paper seeking organ donors,'' said the Rev. Byron Arledge, director of caring ministries at Trinity Lutheran Church in Akron, Ohio. After checking out the 27 responses, they had 18 to send.

All but three, which missed the pick-up, arrived Sept. 20 at Jerusalem Branch Church in Salley, he said.

Jerusalem Branch was one of 13 churches to receive the instruments, said Dr. Otis Corbitt of Columbia, director of the board of trustees. Two of the organs needed repairs before they could be given, he said.

Jerusalem's organ will be ready in time for the church's 97th anniversary Oct. 14, said Dr. Corbitt, who is a great-grandson of the church's lead organizers, Coleman and Caroline Kenner Morgan. Though he lives in Columbia, Jerusalem is his home church, he said.

The organs are valued between $300 and $3,500, said the Rev. Arledge.

Between 1993 and 1996, churches in South Carolina and across the nation suffered about $11 million in damages due to arson. About as many predominantly white as predominantly black churches were involved. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in 1996 said they were isolated incidents and 20 percent were racially motivated.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, church arsons dropped from 1,420 in 1980 to 520 in 1994. The 1996 count was within normal ranges, according to industry reports published by the Associated Press.

About $20 million from public and private sources was raised after national media attention focused on church arson.