Home Trustees of LeRoy C Merritt Humanitarian Fund receive largest
Contact: Jonathan Kelley
Administrative Assistant
312-280-4226
For Immediate Release
May 21, 2004
Trustees of LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund
receive largest donation ever from Atlanta librarians
CHICAGO - The trustees of the LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund are pleased to announce that seven librarians, who were among the successful plaintiffs in a recently settled discrimination suit against the Atlanta-Fulton County Public Library, have made donations to the fund totaling $13,000. These donations represent the largest contribution in the 34-year history of the Merritt Fund.
The librarians made their donations in honor of two colleagues, Debra Branton and William Munro, whom they said testified bravely and truthfully against the Atlanta-Fulton County Public Library, despite threats to their careers. In 2001, the Merritt Fund made a grant to the librarians to assist with their legal expenses in the case.
"We are delighted the Atlanta librarians chose to honor Ms. Branton and Mr. Munro by giving to the Merritt Fund," said Chair Francis J. Buckley, Jr. "By speaking out for what they believed to be right, these two epitomized what Dr. Merritt stood for and the reason the Merritt Fund was created. These donations mean that, in the future, others who follow the librarians' examples will have access to the fund for the support they need."
Grants from the Merritt Fund are intended for the support, maintenance, medical care, legal fees and welfare of librarians who have been discriminated against or denied employment rights because of their gender, age, race, color, creed, sexual orientation, place of national origin or defense of intellectual freedom. The Merritt Fund is sustained by donations; grant recipients are asked to repay their grants when they are able, so the fund can continue to help those in need.
For more information about LeRoy C. Merritt and the Merritt Fund, please call (800) 545-2433 ext. 4226 or visit www.merrittfund.org.
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