Silver Spring, Maryland…[Adventist Review]
Talk show host Oprah Winfrey jumpstarted the fund-raising at the fourth annual “Power of a Dream” gala held May 24 at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Washington, D.C., by presenting a check for $1 million to Adventist pastor, musician, and U.S. Dream Academy president Wintley Phipps. Winfrey was the keynote speaker for the event, during which more than $1.8 million was raised for the academy.
U.S. Dream Academy, Inc., a nonprofit organization founded in 1998 by Phipps, sponsors the annual gala. Phipps developed the academy as a values-centered, Internet-based learning program for at-risk youth in the United States, with special emphasis on children of prisoners and those in danger of failing school because of a lack of proper academic, social, and financial support. Phipps is also senior pastor of the Palm Bay Adventist Church in Florida,
“Almost 70 percent of those incarcerated in American prisons are children of prisoners,” Phipps told the Adventist Review when explaining why he felt the need to help this particular at-risk group. “And 80 percent of today’s federal prisoners are high-school dropouts.”
The academy offers support through tutoring and mentoring programs, computer training, and leadership development for youth ages 7 to 11. It is headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, and oversees learning centers in eight U.S. cities, including Atlanta, Georgia; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Orlando, Florida.
“Adventist pastors struggle with the temptation to keep the members in the pew happy, but while we do that, millions are perishing all around us,” added Phipps. “God has led me to do wider things in ministry. I wanted to try to do what I could to make a difference in the lives of a very special group of kids, and God has blessed our organization beyond our wildest dreams.”
Also in attendance at the gala were Senator Orrin Hatch, Adventist Congressional Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. The Pine Forge Academy and the Dream Kids choirs were among those who performed for the event.
For more information about U.S. Dream Academy, go to www.usdreamacademy.org.
