DMX Gives $220,000 To Save New York Church

Jet, June 5, 2000

The Yonkers, NY, Pentecostal church that once put up hip-hop superstar Dark Man X (DMX) when he needed a place to stay recently received a helping hand from the rapper when he paid the $220,000 it needed to stop a foreclosure.

"There's no doubt he will be rewarded by God," Pastor Marie Cooper told the New York Daily News.

DMX, whose birth name is Earl Simmons, recalls looking at the local news one day when he saw Cooper on TV pleading for help to save her church. The rap star never forgot that Cooper was one of the few kind adults who reached out to him during his troubled youth. So, he decided to take action.

By the time he was able to make contact with Cooper, the foreclosure proceedings were already finalized and the new owners of the property refused to surrender at the foreclosure price of $159,000 but demanded a $61,000 increase, boosting the price to $220,000.

DMX said that he was prepared to do whatever he had to do to return the church to its congregation.

"There is no price tag on kindness," said DMX. "This church is a place of refuge and hope to many families, parents, grandparents and young people. This is what God would have me do."