St. Francis Assisi once said“…for it is in giving that we receive…”. Motivated by this saying, members of the Ghana Association of Madison (GhAMa) in Wisconsin -USA, undertook a voluntary service at a food pantry in Madison on August 3, 2013. It was a great opportunity for GhAMa which has been around for nine years, to give back to the community and to promote the association, Ghana, the African community at large, whiles fostering closer relationship between Ghanaians and residents of Madison.

The society of St. Vincent de Paul, the site for the voluntary activity is one of the leading welfare groups in the United States, dedicated to assisting those in need and seeking charity and justice. Their branch in Madison operates the largest food pantry in Dane County with a client choice model serving more than 22,000 households. In 2012 they donated more than $1,300,000 worth of food to residents of Madison and GhAMa is proud to be associated with them.

Clad in their GhAMa t-shirts, members assisted clients to pick up groceries and other household items such as toilet rolls, diapers, detergents, children’s books, etc., whiles others stayed behind the scenes re-packaging boxes that would be sent to the shop floor. In all, a total of 100 families and individuals were served within a four-hour period, to the admiration of the clients and the management of St. Vincent de Paul. The numerous “thank you” received as well as occasional questions about Ghana were enough feedback that our services were greatly appreciated.

In return, GhAMa volunteers were very glad to have given out their time and energy; and expressed their willingness to engage in such exercise in the future. Since then, GhAMa, Ghana, and Africa have been on the lips of the over hundred people who we had the opportunity of engaging. Ayekoo to all the volunteers and GhAMa.

Story by Charles Ampong

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