Let’s not Demonize Art Pope
Immediately, my eye was drawn to the first name on the list of charities and universities the Pope Foundation blessed with $1.2 million in grants last year.
The Alliance Medical Ministry? Art Pope, Republican archenemy of some Wake County school board Democrats, gave $10,000 to the charity where Dr. Anne McLaurin, former school board Democrat, provides medical care to the uninsured? What nefarious motive must he have?
We need our selfish, rich, conservative caricatures to eschew humanitarian efforts so we can say they want to hang on to their haddock. Every conservative, we know, believes that giving a man a fish instead of teaching him to fish just keeps the man standing there with his hand out.
Humanitarian aid actually is the fourth prong of the Pope Foundation’s charitable efforts – the other three being public policy, education and the arts. Given the amount of unfavorable press Pope has received this year, one might expect any talk of prongs to refer to a pitchfork.
An October article in The New Yorker, headlined “State for Sale,” chronicled the role three Pope Foundation-backed public policy groups played in the Republican takeover of the General Assembly in 2010.
Pope has been characterized as having a “plantation mentality” because Variety Wholesalers, his family’s retail business, employs some part-time workers at minimum wage. He also has been accused of taking advantage of blacks because many of his stores are in low-income neighborhoods. The N.C. Association of Educators even called for a boycott of the stores, which include Rose’s and Maxway.
It’s painfully hard to understand why detractors demonize a man for providing affordable goods in low-income areas and why they want to jeopardize the jobs of the 7,000 people he employs with a boycott.
“When we do make money from the company, most of it we’re reinvesting in the company and still creating more jobs,” Pope said. “Every day we sell clothing for an affordable price, every day we make a payroll, we’re enriching lives.”
In addition to the Alliance Medical Ministry grant, the Pope Foundation gave $5,000 to the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina, $5,000 to Hope Reins of Raleigh, $10,000 to Habitat for Humanity, $10,000 to Hospice of Wake County, $5,000 to the Interfaith Food Shuttle, $25,000 to Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina, $5,000 to the Raleigh Rescue Mission, $5,000 to the Salvation Army, $5,000 to the Shepherd’s Table, $25,000 to StepUp Ministry, $10,000 to Urban Ministries, $30,000 to the YMCA – and $5,000 to Safe Haven for Cats.
You mean Art Pope doesn’t eat cats for breakfast?
“I’m a dog person also,” said Pope, who has a 17-year-old she-cat named Rocky. “I’m an equal opportunity animal lover.”
‘Yeah, it’s working’
In December, the Pope Foundation celebrated its 25th anniversary with a dinner that raised $300,000 for StepUp Ministry. The Raleigh nonprofit helps more than 600 low-wage and homeless people move their lives to stability – job, family and home – each year.
“They provide life skills and job skills, teach them to manage budgets, so those worse off in our society, in our county, can get a hand up to provide for themselves and their families,” Pope said. “A lot of those at StepUp have received direct charity through food kitchens; some suffered from child abuse, some from substance abuse, and they need help there as well. We try to accomplish the whole range.”
Being able to honor StepUp was one of the highlights of his year, Pope said.
“Looking at the clients of StepUp who were at the dinner who spoke to a big audience and then also spoke one on one with us, that was a ‘Yeah, it’s working’ moment,” Pope said, fists in the air. “We can make a difference.”
In the longer term, Pope said, he’d like to end poverty so people don’t need charity.
“Until we get there, we still need to provide direct humanitarian help,” he said.
Addressing the divide
Of course, it’s the path to “there” that so divides liberals and conservatives.
Pope believes protecting the free-market economy, “subject to the rule of law with the government providing essential services,” creates the conditions “where people can be successful and provide for their families and raise themselves out of poverty, so the next generation will do better.”
His support of the John Locke Foundation and other conservative public policy groups “is just as intentional to alleviate poverty as direct charity like the Food Bank and Habitat. One is treating the short-term, immediate needs and symptoms, and the other addresses the underlying causes of poverty and will eliminate poverty for more people in the long term.”
Disagree with him. Debate him. But don’t demonize him.
People are complex. Always assigning dark motives to the one-dimensional foes we create makes it easier to feel morally superior, but it makes it harder to solve our problems.
Pope’s path
Art Pope, who became chairman and CEO of Variety Wholesalers Inc. after his father’s death in 2006, was a reluctant participant in the family business.
“When I was an undergrad at Carolina, my father wanted me to get a business degree. I got a political science degree,” Pope said. “When my father wanted me to go get an MBA, I not only got a law degree, but I got it at Duke. My father was a huge Carolina supporter. When I graduated from Duke Law School, my father wanted me to come into the family business, and I went into private practice. I spent several years practicing law, and I thoroughly enjoyed being a practicing attorney.
“My father, in 1986 – I had planned to stay in the governor’s office one year because I didn’t plan to be a career state employee, even as counsel to Gov. Martin, so I returned to my old law firm – but my father approached me with a fairly attractive offer. After being on my own for years, I felt comfortable working for the family company for the first time. My project was to start the Pope Foundation that year.”
Asked whether he gets great joy from being able to give so much money away through the foundation, Pope said what he gets is satisfaction.
“Joy isn’t quite the right word,” Pope said. “You regret that someone is in a position of need. I don’t get joy giving people food. I wish they weren’t hungry to begin with.”
Pope also gets satisfaction from climbing mountains – he has conquered Aconcagua, the highest mountain in South America, and Kilimanjaro – and avoiding caves.
“When I read about people who go spelunking in caves, that absolutely horrifies me,” he said. “Put me on the edge of the mountain looking a mile down, but put me in an enclosed space? No, thank you.”
FACTS
The John William Pope Foundation contributed $1.2 million to local charities and universities last year. The foundation is a private, family foundation, supported by the late John W. Pope, Sr., of Raleigh, his wife, Joyce W. Pope, and their children: Art Pope of Raleigh, Amanda Pope of Citra, Fla., and their late son, John William Pope, Jr. The Pope Foundation receives additional support from the family’s business, Variety Wholesalers, Inc., which owns and operates Roses, Maxway, Super 10 and other discount stores. It has offices and distribution centers in Raleigh and Henderson.
December Grantees:
Alliance Medical Ministry $10,000
American Red Cross-Triangle Chapter $5,000
Asheville School, The $225,000
Barium Springs Home for Children $10,000
Blessed Sacrament School $10,000
Capitol Commission $10,000
Carolina Ballet $25,000
Disabilities Education Support Center $5,000
Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina $5,000
Full Gospel Tabernacle Incorporated $25,000
Godwin Presbyterian Church $5,000
H. Leslie Perry Memorial Library, Inc. of Vance County $10,000
Habitat for Humanity – Wake County $10,000
Henderson YMCA $5,000
Hope Reins of Raleigh $5,000
Hospice of Wake County Foundation $10,000
Interfaith Food Shuttle $5,000
Lifeline Outreach, Inc. $3,000
North Carolina Opera $10,000
North Carolina Symphony $25,000
NC Theatre $25,000
North Carolina Youth Legislative Assembly Administration $5,000
Neuse Christian Academy $2,500
Occoneechee Council – Boy Scouts of America $50,000
Performance Edge $5,000
Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina $25,000
Raleigh Charter High School $25,000
Raleigh Fine Arts Society $25,000
Raleigh Rescue Mission $5,000
Ravenscroft School $25,000
Rex Healthcare Foundation $5,000
SAFE Haven for Cats $5,000
Salvation Army of Wake County $5,000
Shepherd’s Table Soup Kitchen, The $5,000
StepUp Ministry $25,000
United Way of Vance County $10,000
Upper Room Christian Academy $10,000
Urban Ministries of Wake County $10,000
Vance County Historical Society $5,000
Virginia Episcopal School $25,000
White Memorial Presbyterian Church $50,000
YMCA $30,000
STAFF WRITER BURGETTA EPLIN WHEELER