August 9 1999

ARTICLE TOOLS

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They are calling from Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, Nebraska, and Washington, D.C. Clyde White, president of South Shore Bank's church program in Chicago, has been on the phone since May, when the financial institution began gaining a national reputation for saying yes to churches that had repeatedly been turned down for loans.

"There's a need out there that is not being satisfied," White says. "The need for better relationships between financial institutions and churches is greater than even we anticipated."

South Shore Bank has loaned more than $20 million to local churches this year. They have serviced almost 600 congregations. According to White, in poorer neighborhoods most banks cater to the 15 percent of the population that meets criteria for wise investment opportunities. White says South Shore is focusing on the other 85 percent.

"Our mission is to provide the religious community with the financial resources necessary for them to carry out the ordained work of the kingdom of God," White says.

CHURCH LOANS: Vernon Park Church of God has been a South Shore Bank customer for more than 20 years. When its youth program expanded beyond 120 participants and they began turning kids away, pastors Addie L. Wyatt and Claude S. Wyatt, Jr., decided the community needed a family life center. The church turned to South Shore to help with financing.

"They helped us with the original mortgage we took out on the church," says church treasurer Charles E. Sawyer. "They knew we paid that off in 11 years, and that is why it was so easy to get more help from them when we realized we needed $1.2 million to complete the community center instead of our original $600,000 bond."

Sawyer also credits White's sensitivity to the church. "Clyde White ...