Atlanta Daily World

BIG BETHEL ENDS 72ND ANNIVERSARY: REPORTS OVER $2,000 SUNDAY

Big Bethel A. M. E. Church wound up its Seventy Second Anniversary drive last night with the final reports of fifty sponsors totaling $2,048.73. Miss Rhode Island, in the person of Mrs. Nina King Calhoun, led the sponsors by reporting $223.83, and will be crowned Miss America in the gorgeous Parade of States Pageant tonight at eight-thirty in the church. The fifty sponsors, attended by a hundred or more workers in the drive, all gorgeously dressed in evening gowns will parade before the president, Rev. D. T. Babcock, pastor, and his staff. Then he will place the golden crown upon the head of Miss America and award presents to nearly every one of the sponsors.

The reporting last night was very brisk and the rivalry was keen. Miss South Carolina, Mrs. Helen Massey, reported the second largest amount, $200.00; Miss Virginia, Mrs. Nellie L. Davis, was third; Miss Florida, Mrs. Henrietta Babcock, was fourth, while a close fifth was Miss Louisiana, Mrs. Maggie Gaines, and Miss New York, Mrs. George, was sixth. All of the above named sponsors reported more than $100.00 each.

Rev. Babcock was high in his praise of Dr. J. W. E. Linder, chairman of the Anniversary Committee; J. H. Calhoun, chairman of the Steering Committee; Mrs. Wyolene Pullum, chairman of the Arrangement Committee, who gave the idea, all of the sponsors, their staffs and especially the hundreds of friends of Big Bethel, who supported the drive so loyally. The goal set for the drive was $2,000.00, and the fact that it was reached may be attributed to the new spirit which has been aroused among the members of the church, and the magnificent way in which they supported the drive. The remarkable thing about the drive is that all of the church expenses have been kept current during the entire campaign and the organization has secured several important modern improvements during the summer after raising $1400.00 in educational money during the spring. Big Bethel is really on its way to its former heights.