Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 12, 1993 TAG: 9307120045
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARY BISHOP STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Already, friends of Mount Moriah Baptist Church have given it two new bathrooms and a refurbished kitchen.
Members of the 135-year-old church held open house this past weekend to thank the nearly 200 individuals, churches, organizations and businesses who gave money, materials and new hope to one of the Roanoke Valley's oldest churches.
Louise Witt, who with her husband, Silas, led the improvement effort, reeled off the thank-yous - a long, long list.
"Please thank the people who donated throughout Virginia, South Carolina, Philadelphia, Pa., and Washington, D.C.," she said Sunday afternoon, as visitors dropped by the fellowship hall.
"I've been so happy, I don't know what to do," she said. "I say, `Thank you, Jesus.' "
She was grateful to Roanoke Mayor David Bowers, who came by Saturday to proclaim it "Mount Moriah Day." She expressed thanks to Ethel Smith, a Virginia Tech instructor and writer of local black history, who put the word out about the church's needs.
It tickled Witt that a television report Saturday night included audio of one of Mount Moriah's two new toilets flushing furiously - music to members' ears.
Mount Moriah's membership has dwindled to about a dozen, partly because elderly worshipers were unable to walk to the outdoor toilet behind the church. And the church couldn't serve food because it had no water in the kitchen.
Already, more people are coming to church. Sunday's visitors included Leola Alexander Burford of Christiansburg, who turns 99 on July 31. She's the aunt of Louise Curtis Thompson, clerk of the church for more than 30 years.
Churches sent choir robes and hymnals. There's a new water fountain, a new water heater.
Some donors - such as the business that gave new kitchen cabinets and sink - did so anonymously. Some people sent $3 or $5; the largest donation, $300, came from a small church.
It was the little churches - about 20 of them - and not the big churches that answered Mount Moriah's call for plumbing.
Mount Moriah is waiting to hear if it will be declared a historic site. The congregation was founded by slaves in 1858. The current sanctuary, built in 1873, sits on a hilltop just off U.S. 460 near the Roanoke County line.
This year's homecoming service and lunch on July 25 should be one of the best ever, Witt said.
"We're going to celebrate and drink cold water on the hill!"
by CNB