Our WECGOD II, 501c3 Corporation (We Educate Communities Globally On Disparities) is asking for your support for the upcoming year growing season by contributing to our annual appeal.

You can donate via the Buffalo Black Billion website by clicking here or by mail written to:  WECGOD Tree of 40 Fruit at: 57 Grape St, Buffalo, NY 14204.

ALL GIFTS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE.

Our Corporation is organized and operated exclusively for charitable, educational, health and religious purposes. Our mission is to decrease the disproportionate burden of disease and early loss of life among medically undeserved communities through education, empowerment, partnerships and interventional strategies that impact determinants of health globally.

Your help is greatly needed in growing stronger Youth and supporting Seniors, Veteran Families and the Homeless in a food desert neighborhoods through providing them with free fresh fruits and vegetables, a learning space for garden stewardship where we grow organic produce, educate our children, and provide healthy habitats for local flora and fauna. Most importantly, a place where our Seniors share knowledge from their farming and fishing years with our Young People to be able to sustain themselves with these skills throughout the years.

As believers, we understand that the love of Christ isn’t meant to be kept to ourselves. It’s a love that reaches out and gives it forward. For each and every student that has supported us we express our deepest thanks. Our students are not just learners; they are change makers, extending Christ’s love through their generosity. Whether you give back to WECGOD through a financial donation – large or small, or simply support by spreading the Word or through your prayers – thank you!

We hope you continue to join us in this blessed journey of giving back and witness how your generosity can light up lives!

The Chapman Doss family would like to publicly thank our supporters for their annual gifts along with the Administrative Secretary of our Corporations, Executive Catherine Wright. Gethsemane Missionary and St. John Baptist Churches for their continued support. And a special thanks to Overseer Michael Chapman who was appointed Chairman of Economic Development in 2018 for the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc. Since that appointment has allowed our Youth and Advisors to travel with the Buffalo’s Black Billion Comprehensive Collaborative Urban Development Model to Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Maryland; Altoona, Pennsylvania; Cleveland, Ohio; Panama and Miami, Florida where he received the Keys to the City for this model, as well as internationally depressed areas in Jamaica and Bahamas. Thanks to Overseer Chapman’s generosity and generous supporters like you, we’ve been partnering with schools and working alongside residents to address food desert neighborhoods around the world.

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over, shall men give into your bosom(lap). For with the same measure you mete(use), withal it shall be measured to you again.

– Luke 6:38

In Christ,

Ina Rebecca Doss-Chapman

By Sheila Durant

What do you say about a man who means so much to so many people in such an extraordinary place and time?  Inextricably bound to his faith, no one can doubt that he has internalized his role as shepherd and, together with his soul mate of more than 44 years, has the God-given talent, intellect, energy, fortitude and vision to carry out his purpose on this earth.

Everyone has seen “it”, cheered “it” and sometimes roared over “it.”  That “it” is what works in the “in-between” where, in a relay handoff, the baton is placed in the hand of the receiving runner who does not turn nor need to look back to receive it.  In 2002, the “baton” was passed on to Overseer Michael Chapman who, like his two brilliant predecessors, Reverend Burnie C. McCarley, from 1927 until 1972, and Rev. Dr. Bennett W. Smith Sr. from 1972 until 2001, closed his eyes and let his faith and his soul mate, Rev. Ina R. Doss Chapman, become the wind beneath his wings….

Today, the pastoral seed of vision to create a vibrant church home has now, under his leadership, become a powerful economic and community development force within the City of East Buffalo, known as the “Fruit Belt.”  That “it” that drives the St. John – Gethsemane village community is the faithfulness to a covenant to walk with the Almighty in all aspects of the lives of the church and its flock.  To say that Rev. Chapman is a shepherd is no laughing matter.   Under his leadership, extraordinary vision, and quiet charisma, Rev. Chapman has become a “driver for social economic justice” among its more than 500 African American Disciples.  Because he “walks the walk”, no one doubts that he is able to “talk the talk”.  He has an uncanny gift to seed a big vision in the face of incredible odds and the fortitude to make it happen.

In a short span of 17 years, under the God-driven and faith based leadership of Rev. Chapman, the now debt-free St. John – Gethsemane village community church, transparently working by and through its affiliate corporations with a mission driven organizational structure, can officially take its place as a “major player in the economic and community development initiatives and future of the City of Buffalo”. In the Western New York region, more than a billion dollars of redevelopment, construction, programs and ministries are planned over the next 10 years to be reinvested by St. John-Gethsemane in the City of Buffalo’s Urban Core.  As a consequence, St. John-Gethsemane Church will be creating hundreds of jobs for minorities in construction, small businesses, health care, wellness, energy and entrepreneurial training.

In short, like Matthew recorded in the Gospel, Rev. Chapman teaches his “flock“ how to fish.  Among the fruits of his teachings, which include the historic Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church, are a few accomplishments:

• McCarley Gardens 150 (2, 3 & 4 bedrooms) for $70 million total redevelopment and 47 new builds;

• St. John Tower for $30,000,000 total redevelopment of 150, 1 bedroom 9 story senior  facility;

• St. John Townhomes II Housing Development for $16.3 million completed in 2015;

• St. John Baptist Hospice Buffalo House for $2.8 Million completed in 2008;

• Rev. Dr. Bennett W. Smith, Sr. Family Life Center for $3.8 million completed in 2001; and,

• The oldest Landmark in the Fruit Belt community is the Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church which is under historical preservation at a cost of $1.8 million.

In August 2018, Overseer Pastor Chapman, who is also Pastor of St. John Baptist Church and Gethsemane Baptist Church, President and CEO of the Fruit Belt Community Development Corporation, Inc., President CEO of WE C God II and Developer and Author of the “Buffalo Black Billion Dollar Fruit Belt Eastside Buffalo New York Comprehensive Urban Development Model” (hereinafter “Comprehensive Model”), was recently appointed as the National Chair of Economic Development for the prestigious and powerful 2.5 million-member Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.. As National Chair, Rev. Chapman will oversee its’ economic development phase under the able direction of its’ President, Timothy Steward, of Nassau Bahama.

Just who is Rev. Chapman and why is he special?  Well, he has been immersed in on-going education with Christ the King Seminary since 2001, where in 1991 – 1997 he earned his M.A.P.M. “Master of Arts Pastoral Ministry” and in 1997 – 2002 he earned his Master of Divinity. He also earned his Honorary Doctor of Divinity from Jesus the Liberator Seminary of Religious Justice in 2005 for the first Hospice by a church and palliative care facility. In 2002 – 2007 he earned his classroom Certification in Systematic Theology.

He is a Developer and Grant writer of more than $100 million dollars of grants.  But is that all?

He is selfless enough to encourage the transparent reconstruction of all corporate boards of St John Baptist Church and Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church and to provide corporate enlightenment through board training and to encourage ongoing management, economic and community development training.  Each step of enlightenment empowers its disciples. But is that all?

He is principled in how he does business having founded and successfully operated the Aloma D. Johnson Fruit Belt Community Charter School and the State certified Erma D. Robinson Day Care and the Century Life Style Health & Wellness Medical Facility.  But is that all?

He is tech savvy and respectful of the benefit of having technology serve his flock by encouraging the use of cloud based IT systems to manage more efficient workflows.  But is that all there is?

He is grounded spiritually in that he draws from his well of his strength his commitment to his 44 year old marriage and family of more than thirty grandchildren and six great grandchildren from five children.  But is that all?

He allows himself to be flanked by trusted professionally strong Trustees who have been given permission to express their truths to power as well as carry out the oversight mission of St. John Baptist and Gethsemane Baptist Church.  But is that all?

How does anyone bear such responsibility and weight?  In the building of St. John – Gethsemane, Rev Chapman has had to wrestle with the painful strategy of having demons among the politically blind, many of whom are of like color and background.  To understand what drives Rev. Chapman, it is important to know something about the neighborhood called “Fruit Belt.”

Wikipedia describes St. John – Gethsemane Baptist Church as being “located within the East Side of Buffalo.  The neighborhood is centered along High Street running west-east and Jefferson Avenue running north – south.  It is enclosed along its eastern boundary by the Kensington Expressway and Michigan Avenue as its Western Boundary, separating the Fruit Belt from the Medical Campus.”  At present, the Fruit Belt is a residential neighborhood in Buffalo, New York located adjacent to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

This article was provided as a courtesy of HeartandSoul.com. Click here to view the full article. 

Opened in 1874, this $1.4 million restoration project was prepared by the Clinton Brown Company Architecture, PC of Buffalo, known for its renewing of historic buildings and heritage places.

“We will use our donation to begin discussions with local foundations to match it or do more to help us complete this restoration, which we believe will help us restore that community,” Pastor Chapman said. “We plan to begin the renovation in the spring, and it will include a renovation of the original sanctuary, the parsonage, kitchen, cafeteria and restoring the original pipe organ.”

WECGOD II had previously donated $400,000 to the project for a new roof, masonry work, a new boiler and stabilizing the building.

Jonathan D. Epstein from Buffalo News spoke with Reverend Chapman and Minister Ina regarding the church’s renovation and their plans for added amenities that will benefit the community. Click here to read article.

The project was delayed for several years due to, amongst many things, a 2015 moratorium on the sale of property owned by the city of Buffalo.

Reverend Michael Chapman speaks with The Business Journals’ Jacob Tierney about the progress Buffalo’s Black Billion has made and his plans for its future. Please here to read the article.

The plot of land will accommodate the nonprofit’s vision of a mixed-used community  space that will include an outdoor market place, an indoor retail space, a community garden and low-income housing.

The Fruit Belt, named after the fruit trees that lined the yards of its first settlers is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city. Due to its proximity to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, the Fruit Belt neighborhood sits on some of the most coveted real estate in the surrounding Buffalo area.

The purchase of the plot of land is part of Buffalo’s Black Billion’s mission of reviving the Fruit Belt neighborhood and ensuring food security in the area and the surrounding communities of Buffalo’s East Side.

WKBW’s Ryan Arbogast spoke with the President of the Baptist Minister’s Conference of Buffalo, Reverend Tim Brown, regarding the purchase of the land and the upcoming construction. Please click here for full article.

Minister Ina R. Doss Chapman Personal Executive Administrator to Buffalo’s Black Billion – a powerful economic and community development force within the City of East Buffalo, known as the “Fruit Belt.”

Pastor’s Wife, Mother, Researcher, & Author:

Minister Ina is the wife and Personal Executive Administrator of Overseer Michael Chapman, Developer and Author of the “Buffalo Black Billion Dollar Fruit Belt Eastside Buffalo New York Comprehensive Urban Development Model” (hereinafter “Comprehensive Model”), who was recently appointed as the National Chair of Economic Development for the prestigious and powerful 2.5 million-member Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc..

As National Chair, Overseer Chapman will oversee its’ economic development phase under the able direction of its’ President, Timothy Steward, of Nassau Bahama.

Minister Ina has shared with her husband, forty-four years and five children together; Kenyatta Jameel (LaTonya), Mikeyta Irene (William), Tiffany Oria, Tera Elizabeth and Michael II (Taresa), and are the proud grandparents of thirty grandchildren and six great grandchildren. She has served her currant church families consecutively over forty-one years and four years in various capacities.

Under the God-driven and faith-based leadership agreed to take a vow of poverty to profit share with her church family to develop the Fruit Belt community by leveraging family salary, church assets and corporations for economic and community development on behalf of the statistically and demographically destitute underserved Fruit Belt community since 2003. Using discretion and offering wise and sound counsel based on her own Christian journey, have the unique ability to make the teachings of Christ applicable and relevant in the lives of her family through prayer and fasting.

Operating with the highest of moral and ethical standards, building community wealth using Biblical Principles, eighteen years without any fiscal scandals, no misappropriation of funds and no embezzlements. Her consistent high commitment to moral and ethical standards in private and public cannot be ignored. Guiding her families’ spiritual journey to be more like Christ by using specific examples found in scripture.

AS a CSMA have gained by first-hand experience, expanded self-awareness through meditation, fasting and solitude with a deeper understanding of her mission to administer, impart embed and integrate the teachings of Christ to those who desire a deeper understanding and meaning throughout their Christian journey. Has personally contribute 1.5 million dollars to the now debt-free St. John – Gethsemane village community churches and now have officially taken her place as a “major player in the economic and community development initiatives and future of the City of Buffalo”

With the continued joint efforts of Cancer Research Contribution in Community Base Participatory Research as Regional Director for a National Breast and Cervical Cancer program inspired her to start family corporations in the community which she serves after retirement of 35 years in Cancer Research.

Ina presently serves as International Consultant and Personal Executive Administrator in her family corporations and Director of Health Initiatives at the Churches, Campus and Village.

She and her family have founded Fruit Belt Community Development Corporation, Inc., Community Development Corp.; Century Life Style Health & Wellness Center. Serving the Western NY community and several corporations, for ancillary services to Primary Care with Medical Massages, Physical Therapy, Chiropractic Services, and Health Classes for Chronic Diseases for Women & Children’s Health. It Still Takes A Village, LLC; Chapman’s Outsources Management Company which supports telecommunication services, devices, software and connectivity; IJOT Communication LLC is a National Authorized Retail provider for both Residential and Commercial Accounts; Diamond’s In the Rough a Women’s Transitional Housing in Ohio and Georgia and Cranial Prosthesis (wigs) free for children with cancer; Tiffany’s Operational Center for Youth (TOC for Youth) provides shelter, safety, protection and activities that strengthen interventions to provide second-chance opportunities for homeless youth and young adult parents in need of information to succeed in formal education and life.; Link Up LLC Social Media Marketing and Advertisement; Blessed of the Lord 501c3, a Production Ministry; God’s Farm’acy a Free Fresh Food Truck in community food deserts, MC Creative Thinkers LLC a Web base Data Management Tool; WECGOD LLC, (We Educate Communities Globally on Disparities) that strives to acquire and analyze community based health data related to untimely loss of life. Caregivers Boat Ministry for respite and five generation family health history for wellness specializing in health care services for disadvantage raising the quality of life for the underserved.

WECGOD II, a 501c3 Nonprofit Charity Corporation that recently paid $1.5 million dollars for a debt free campus. In her forty year career, thirty plus years at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center (RPCCC) in Clinical Research ensuring many of the laser test procedures with Photodynamic Therapy on the ND YAG laser for animal surgery treatment with Dr. Thomas J. Dougherty who discovered of the medication Photofrin. and Dr. Carleton C. Stewart at (RPCCC), Flow Cytometry reviewing protocols for biohazard concerns.

Author:

• Mang TS, Keme T., Chapman IR Abstract Poster American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery; Combination Studies On Hyperthemia Induced by Hd: YAG as an Adjuvant to Photodymanic Therapy
• Hurd TC, Chapman IR, Kelly M, Rodgers T, Womack SD, University of Texas Health Sciences Center, San Antonio, TX; Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY; State University of New York at Buffalo, NY. An Evaluation of the Integration of Non-Traditional Learning Tools into a Community. [CBPR], which is regionally and internationally recognized from pass mentor the late Lorraine Peeler PhD., and currant mentor and co-author in research, Thelma C. Hurd MD Educator and Breast Surgeon.
• Go Tell Michelle African American Women Writes to the First Lady Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama. Titled: From Whence She Came Daddy’s Little Black Gal

Featured In:

• Today’s Minister’s Wives, Baltimore/ Washington Magazine;
• Volume II of the “Uncrowned Queens; African American Women Community Builders of WNY for Outstanding Contributions to Healthcare in Western NY
• Buffalo Magazine (Wellness)
• Most recently Minority Enterprise Advocate for Buffalo’s Black Billion
• Heart & Soul Magazine

Honors:

• Outstanding Research Contribution Award African Cancer Care Inc. San Antonio, Texas
• Women In Action Award Elim Christian Fellowship, Buffalo, NY
• Family Life Award Buffalo Urban League
• Invitee of Senator Kristen E. Gillibrand Faith-Based Summit
• Member, Board Of Directors Uncrowned Queens Institute
• Invitee of White House to African American Forum
• Invitee of White House West Wing Tour
• Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated Gamma Phi Omega Chapter Honors First Ladies
• Certification Grief Communication Pastoral Care Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
• Spokesperson at the White House for Fruit Belt Community Development Model
• Member, Board of Directors of the African Cancer Care Inc. African Cancer Prevention Group, Houston, TX
• Invitee of President Obama Administration as Primary Representative for City of Buffalo Presidential visit to Albany for Economic Development Initiative
• Honored in meeting the President of the United States. Conversed with President Obama with process of presenting Go, Tell Michelle (African American Women Write to the New First Lady) while visiting University at Albany’s College of Nano Science and Engineering.
• Personal Greeting from The Arm of Her Majesty’s Bahamian Government, Third time sitting Prime Minister of The Bahamas.
• Prime Minister Perry Christie.
• Met with Executive Officials of Prime
• Minister on Economic Development Initiative.
• Hosted New York gubernatorial rally for Governor Cuomo three term
• Alpha Kappa Alpha,Xi Epsilon Omega Chapter Community Health Award
• Accomplished African American Women in Western New York, Uncrown Queens Institute
• African American Achiever Award, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
• Western NY Woman In Action Award Purposeful Women of Faith Award
• Executive Women International Institute
• Black Achievers in Industry Award

Ina enjoys roller skating, working with youth and the elderly, swimming, kite flying, sewing, photography and collecting greeting cards.

Many have worked with me in developing certain aspect of the Ministry. Others have served as consultants; God is truly blessing this Comprehensive Urban Development Ministry. www.meamagazine.com and www.heartandsoul.com