HR0323 LRB094 11950 CSA 44687 r

1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The Vernon Park Church of God in Chicago
3 celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2005; and
 
4     WHEREAS, In 1955, Rev. Dr. Claude Wyatt and Rev. Dr. Addie
5 Wyatt and a small group of people founded the Vernon Park
6 Church of God; today, the church has a membership of well over
7 1,000; and
 
8     WHEREAS, For 45 years, Rev. Claude Wyatt's concern for the
9 total community involved a ministry in education and training,
10 social action, and a caring ministry which gave itself to heavy
11 counseling and guidance to families, marriages, youth, and
12 particularly those who lived in economic and social despair; he
13 has been responsible for rehabilitating alcoholics and drug
14 addicts, working with youth, gangs, and juveniles in trouble;
15 he has also served as a constituent for Urban Ministries for
16 the Church of God in Anderson, Indiana; and
 
17     WHEREAS, Rev. Claude Wyatt and his wife of 64 years, Rev.
18 Addie Wyatt, worked closely with the late Dr. Martin Luther
19 King Jr. from 1956 to 1968; they participated in the major
20 civil rights marches in Selma, Alabama, Washington, D.C., and
21 Chicago; Rev. Claude Wyatt served as Chicago Director of the
22 Ministerial Leadership Training Program for the Southern
23 Christian Leadership Conference; the Wyatt's served as
24 founders of Operation Breadbasket and founders and board
25 members of Operation PUSH; and
 
26     WHEREAS, The Blackbook Business and National Publication
27 Agency named Rev. Claude Wyatt as one of its Ten Outstanding
28 Business and Professional Persons; in November of 1989, he was
29 inducted into the DuSable Umbrella Alumni Hall of Fame; and
 
30     WHEREAS, From 1941 to 1954, Rev. Addie Wyatt was employed

 

 

HR0323 - 2 - LRB094 11950 CSA 44687 r

1 in the meatpacking industry and, because of her experiences
2 there, she served for the next 30 years in various capacities
3 with AFL-CIO-affiliated unions; in addition to her work for
4 organized labor, she has been nationally recognized for her
5 groundbreaking work in women's rights on the Equal Rights
6 Amendment and the Equal Pay for Equal Work campaign; Eleanor
7 Roosevelt appointed her to serve on John F. Kennedy's
8 Commission on the Status of Women; in 1975, Time magazine named
9 her as one of twelve Women of the Year and she had the same
10 distinction bestowed upon her in 1977 by the Ladies Home
11 Journal; she was a founding member of the National Organization
12 of Women and the Coalition of Labor Union Women; President
13 Jimmy Carter appointed her to the International Women's
14 Commission of the United Nations and she addressed the American
15 Women's Conference in Houston, Texas; Ebony magazine hailed her
16 as one of the "100 Most Influential Black Americans" and she
17 has consulted with countless political leaders at all levels;
18 and
 
19     WHEREAS, In 1999, the Claude and Addie Wyatt Community and
20 Family Life Center was dedicated and serves as a living
21 landmark to the Wyatts' life and ministry; therefore, be it
 
22     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
23 NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
24 we congratulate the Vernon Park Church of God on the occasion
25 of its 50th anniversary and commend its founding pastors,
26 Reverends Claude and Addie Wyatt, for their spiritual
27 contributions, dedication, guidance, and spreading God's word
28 to the community; and be it further
 
29     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
30 presented to the founding pastors of the Vernon Park Church of
31 God, Reverends Claude and Addie Wyatt.