‘Special Committee to Save Miracle Hill’ optimistic about fundraising

By St. Clair Murraine
Outlook Staff Writer

No one looked at the cardboard thermometer that outlined a fundraising goal of $1 million until the kickoff to start the campaign was over. 

Rev. Ernest Ferrell, pastor at  St. Mary Primitive Baptist Church, was first to note how much was raised, checking it off with a Sharpie marker.

The kickoff brought in $102,980 in checks, cash and pledges, according to Jerrlyne Jackson, who supervised donations and pledges. She is part of a group organized as a “Special Committee to Save Miracle Hill,” which has set a Sept. 20 deadline to reach their goal.

The fundraising campaign was hastily put together after it was disclosed on July 1 that there is as $12 million offer to purchased Miracle Hill, a finacially strapped nursing home located at 1329 Alabama Street. It was built 53 years ago and quickly became the place where Black senior citizens could seek rehabilitation during segregation.

Elder Lee Harris outlined the urgency to raise the necessary money to head off sale of the facility.

“Once it’s sold, it will never come back to us,” said Harris, who traveled from Jacksonville for the kickoff. “We don’t know what will happen to the employees that are there, the residents that are there. We don’t know if they will keep it as a nursing and rehabilitation center.”

The event attracted other Primitive Baptist ministers from Alabama and Pensacola.

Ferrell said $400,000 of the money raised will go to paying off old debts, specifically to Willie Williams, National Convention President, and Roland Gaines, chairman of Miracle Hill’s Board of Directors. Florida State Primitive Baptist Church Convention owns the facility.

After the immediate debts are cleared, Ferrell said, the committee will begin working on refinancing its remaining debt. 

Ferrell and the other ministers who spoke made it clear they will call on anyone willing to assist. Leon County Schools, which owns nearby Griffin Middle School, wasn’t off limits. 

Griffin Middle School was part of the property when Moses Miles drew up the original plans for Miracle Hill.

Any input from Leon County might come down to what County Commissioner Bill Proctor could do. Selling Miracle Hill would be “a major loss,” Proctor said.

“I’ve come to extend that in the interest of keeping a part of the fabric of this community, Miracle Hill nursing home,” Proctor said during a brief appearance at the press conference.

“Over the span of 53 years, there is no dollar amount on the true value and meaning of African Americans having a place for our loved ones to go,” he said.

Fundraising will intensify over the coming weeks, Ferrell said, but what they achieved on the first day was worth celebrating.

“I feel really good about the excitement that people seem to have about this, especially pastors,” he said. “I feel optimistic about the $1 million. We are not going to linger here with this. We are going to reach out to this community, people who have resources.”