Kingsway Shutters Local Charities

BRISTOL, Va. – The region’s largest charitable giving organization is shuttering three of its local operations and narrowing its focus to international medical relief, citing a shrinking endowment affected by the plunge in financial markets.
Kingsway Charities, which last year reported $122 million in income, will ax operations serving the hungry, widows and children in the region. It will cut its staff from 16 to six, and focus exclusively on its International Medical Ministry, which donates medical supplies to missionaries in developing countries.
Albert Hester, who will continue to serve as Kingsway’s director, said the charity’s operations are “basically all endowment-funded,” but would not immediately provide details on how much the organization has lost.
The board – controlled by members of the Bristol-based Gregory family, which also endowed the charity – had been discussing cutbacks for months, Hester said in an interview Tuesday, but only reached a decision in the last week of December.
“It was something that was looked at, prayed over and thought about,” he said. “Sadly, we didn’t have any other choice in the matter.”
Hester and his reduced staff are working to connect people with food banks and urging churches to financially support widows that Kingsway had been assisting.
Read tomorrow’s Bristol Herald Courier for details on Kingsway’s finances and future direction.