Sarah Wilke, executive director of the Wesley-Rankin Community Center, in Dallas,
says she learned a lot about the philanthropic style of George and Laura Welch Bush the first time she asked them for help.
Ms. Wilke had hoped the Bushes would help put on the annual fund-raising benefit for the community center, a Christian group that provides education, recreation, and other services to low-income families.
She asked the Bushes if they would serve as honorary chairmen for the event and write fund-raising letters. At the time, Mr. Bush was one of the owners of the Texas Rangers baseball team, and was three years away from running for governor.
The Bushes didn’t immediately accede to her request.
Mrs. Bush came to visit the charity and “really wanted to see what they were agreeing to before they said yes, and I appreciate that,” said Ms. Wilke. “Those are my favorite kind of people: The ones that don’t just write a one-time check but come and decide if it’s something they want to invest in.”
The couple said they would only serve as a host of the kick-off party if it were held at the community center in West Dallas rather than in a more affluent part of town where many donors would live. “I’m forever grateful for that,” Ms. Wilke said. “So often those are held somewhere froufrou and sort of high end, far away from the actual ministry or mission you are trying to support.”
The Bushes gave the community center $1,000 each year for several years, the sum that the charity asked of its benefit underwriters. “The dollars were great, but their leadership was far more valuable to us,” said Ms. Wilke, who added: “I don’t know anything about their politics. I’m not involved in that. I do know that as people who are committed to doing what we are doing, they are sincere and real.”
In recent years, Governor and Mrs. Bush have donated nearly half a million dollars to a variety of charities, according to records that the Bushes released to The Chronicle. In addition to revealing support for social-service groups, the records, which cover the years from 1991 to 1998, show that the couple directed a big chunk of their charitable contributions -- more than $112,000 -- to Methodist churches to which they have long had connections.
“The first thing that I’ve always tried to support is the church,” Mr. Bush said in an interview about his giving. “I believe so strongly that our society is enriched by a strong church movement. The churches can help a lot in our society, can help people in need.”
The Bushes have also given to such familiar organizations as the United Way (Mr. Bush once was chairman of a fund-raising campaign for the United Way of Midland); Harvard University and Yale University (the colleges he attended); Southern Methodist University (they gave $150,000 -- their single largest gift -- to the college from which Laura Bush graduated); and the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum (which houses his father’s papers).
George and Laura Bush have also given money to groups that help young people, and in 1999 earmarked $106,250 in revenue from his recently published autobiography to four charities: the Boy Scouts of America, the Girl Scouts of America, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and Girls Inc. “I’ve tried to support mentoring programs,” says Mr. Bush, “because I believe that when a child interfaces with somebody who cares, that child is more likely to be optimistic about his or her future.”
Other Texas and Texas-based groups that show up on the Bushes’ list of contributions include the Gladney Fund, which raises money for adoption services (the Bushes are opposed to legalized abortion); Bryan’s House (which helps children with AIDS and their families); battered-women’s shelters (the support of which is a very important signal to send, says Mr. Bush); and Mission Arlington/Mission Metroplex, a charity that serves the poor.
Over the years, Governor Bush has also given time and money to a Dallas-based group called Hearts & Hammers, which was founded by a former Peace Corps worker named Bob Walker to harness volunteer labor and donated materials to refurbish run-down houses owned by low-income people.
Mr. Walker, who has since started another chapter in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, says that although Mr. Bush didn’t pound nails himself, he was very involved during his four-year tenure. He held biweekly charity meetings in his office, gave advice to the organization, helped it raise money, and visited the houses under renovation on each year’s “project day” to talk with volunteers and homeowners.
Susan Libbey, a Hearts & Hammers volunteer who is now the Dallas group’s executive director, says that her organization was undoubtedly good for Mr. Bush and others from affluent backgrounds. “Dallas is a pretty darn rich city, but there’s a large part of our population that needs some help,” she says. “Having had the same experiences he has had with our group, I don’t see how you cannot have a feel for the way many people live.”