Churches, nonprofits fight for survival amid spill

July 4, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

BAYOU LA BATRE, Ala.

God only knows what will happen to churches and other nonprofit organizations who say they are struggling for survival because of the Gulf oil spill.

Months after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and its well started gushing oil, the British petroleum giant says it has yet to decide how to handle claims filed by religious groups and other charitable organizations that are endangered because people can no longer afford to contribute.

Pastor Dan Brown prays BP PLC comes up with a solution quickly: He said he filed a $50,000 claim last month over lost revenues at Anchor Assembly of God. His small, storefront church outlived Hurricane Katrina and now is struggling because of the oil crisis.

Shrimpers and oyster-men left jobless by the oil spill in this seafood town barely can afford to feed their families and pay their boat loans, much less give money to their church, Brown said. Giving and tithing is down by $12,000 over the last few weeks, he said, and the oil spill will cost an additional $38,000 in lost revenues over the next year, making up the total of the church’s claim.

“You can’t tithe what you don’t have,” said Brown, whose congregation operates a food bank and gives away bread each Sunday to help struggling families. “We’re fighting for our lives just like a business.”

So are environmental groups and communityservice agencies that have either begun feeling a drop in revenues or fear one as the oil crisis drags on.

Darryl Willis, head of claims for BP, said Tuesday he was unaware of any claims filed by churches or nonprofits, and he doesn’t know how such a case will be handled.

More than 42,000 checks totaling $130 million have been written to businesses and individuals, and BP repeatedly has said it would pay any legitimate claim linked to losses caused by the massive oil spill. But Willis said nonprofits are a gray area.

“I get the impact, people not working or being on this sort of fixed income during this period,” Willis said during an interview. “[But] I don’t know what the answer is. I would test the system and let us work through that process.”