Oprah_ A Biography - Kitty Kelley [97]
That evening the family and several community leaders met with Oprah at Katharine Esters’s home to discuss what Oprah could do to fulfill the sign’s declaration that she supported the “folks back home.” Her secretary took notes on the various suggestions, and Oprah promised to get back to them with her decision. Ten years later she returned to Kosciusko to dedicate a $30,000 Habitat for Humanity house that she had financed through Oprah’s Angel Network. Ordinarily, she built Habitat houses in towns where television stations carried her talk show, but she made an exception for Kosciusko, and the town showed its appreciation. The front-page headline of The Star-Herald (circulation: 5,200) trumpeted, “Kosciusko Prepares for Oprah’s Visit.” One old-timer observed, “We haven’t had that kind of a headline since Allied forces landed in Normandy.”
The day before Oprah was to be photographed handing over the house keys to the lucky family, she visited the home and saw that it was empty. She called a nearby Eddie Bauer store and told them to furnish it overnight, from curtains and couches to towels and dishes. She also had every closet filled with clothes in the right size for each family member. Some estimated it cost more to furnish the house than to build it. Oprah laughed. “I couldn’t give them an empty house,” she said.
Most of the town was on its knees in gratitude, but Katharine Carr Esters, who spent years badgering the city to bring running water to the nearby black community, pushed Oprah to do more, especially for the poor children of Kosciusko. “That’s when the seed was planted for the $5 million Oprah Winfrey Boys and Girls Club, which Oprah opened in 2006,” she said. “It took eight years to complete but … the Boys and Girls Club has done more good than anything this community has ever seen. Teenage pregnancy has dropped, juvenile crime has decreased, and vandalism has almost disappeared because of the programs offered. In addition, the club has provided jobs for people. So Oprah did a wonderful thing for the people here, and praise God that she did.… But …”
Mrs. Esters cannot help but add a clear-eyed caveat about her cousin’s philanthropy. “She does a lot of good things for people with her money, but it’s easy when you have that much and you need tax deductions and all. And Oprah doesn’t bang a nail for Habitat unless her cameras are running. Yes, she should get publicity for all her good works, and she certainly makes sure that she does. She never misses an opportunity, especially to make money. She does not come home to visit. She only comes home to do a show. She’s been here all of three times in the last twenty years, and each time was to do a show. It’s all business with Oprah. In 1988 she filmed the visit to Oprah Winfrey Road for one of her shows. In 1998 she dedicated a Habitat house at the same time her film Beloved was opening at our local theater, so she promoted her movie by giving a speech before every showing. In 2006 she had her cameras here again, to film the opening of the Oprah Winfrey Boys and Girls Club.… Nothing is wasted with that girl.”
Worried that her friend, the straight-shooting Mrs. Esters, might have taken too deadly an aim, Jewette Battles interjected. “Oprah has her faults and frailties, just like the rest of us, but she does do good work. It’s just that she presents her generosity as the whole of herself and her character, and that’s not quite accurate.” Both women had occasions over the years to see Oprah in various incarnations. The one they liked best was Oprah the philanthropist. The one they liked