HR0323 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0323 LRB094 11950 CSA 44687 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The Vernon Park Church of God in Chicago celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2005; and

WHEREAS, In 1955, Rev. Dr. Claude Wyatt and Rev. Dr. Addie Wyatt and a small group of people founded the Vernon Park Church of God; today, the church has a membership of well over 1,000; and

WHEREAS, For 45 years, Rev. Claude Wyatt's concern for the total community involved a ministry in education and training, social action, and a caring ministry which gave itself to heavy counseling and guidance to families, marriages, youth, and particularly those who lived in economic and social despair; he has been responsible for rehabilitating alcoholics and drug addicts, working with youth, gangs, and juveniles in trouble; he has also served as a constituent for Urban Ministries for the Church of God in Anderson, Indiana; and

WHEREAS, Rev. Claude Wyatt and his wife of 64 years, Rev. Addie Wyatt, worked closely with the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from 1956 to 1968; they participated in the major civil rights marches in Selma, Alabama, Washington, D.C., and Chicago; Rev. Claude Wyatt served as Chicago Director of the Ministerial Leadership Training Program for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; the Wyatt's served as founders of Operation Breadbasket and founders and board members of Operation PUSH; and

WHEREAS, The Blackbook Business and National Publication Agency named Rev. Claude Wyatt as one of its Ten Outstanding Business and Professional Persons; in November of 1989, he was inducted into the DuSable Umbrella Alumni Hall of Fame; and

WHEREAS, From 1941 to 1954, Rev. Addie Wyatt was employed in the meatpacking industry and, because of her experiences there, she served for the next 30 years in various capacities with AFL-CIO-affiliated unions; in addition to her work for organized labor, she has been nationally recognized for her groundbreaking work in women's rights on the Equal Rights Amendment and the Equal Pay for Equal Work campaign; Eleanor Roosevelt appointed her to serve on John F. Kennedy's Commission on the Status of Women; in 1975, Time magazine named her as one of twelve Women of the Year and she had the same distinction bestowed upon her in 1977 by the Ladies Home Journal; she was a founding member of the National Organization of Women and the Coalition of Labor Union Women; President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the International Women's Commission of the United Nations and she addressed the American Women's Conference in Houston, Texas; Ebony magazine hailed her as one of the "100 Most Influential Black Americans" and she has consulted with countless political leaders at all levels; and

WHEREAS, In 1999, the Claude and Addie Wyatt Community and Family Life Center was dedicated and serves as a living landmark to the Wyatts' life and ministry; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate the Vernon Park Church of God on the occasion of its 50th anniversary and commend its founding pastors, Reverends Claude and Addie Wyatt, for their spiritual contributions, dedication, guidance, and spreading God's word to the community; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the founding pastors of the Vernon Park Church of God, Reverends Claude and Addie Wyatt.