Ghana’s leading acappella quartet, Alabaster Box is billed to perform at the maiden Trinity Hope Centre charity concert to raise money to support the Centre located at Ayensudo near Elmina in the Central Region.

The concert, slated for Friday, July 18, 2014 at the Oasis House of the Trinity Baptist Church in Accra, is under the theme: A Heart of Compassion, and will also feature Vodafone Ghana Music Awards Song Writer of the Year, OJ, and the vibrant voice of gospel minstrel Becky Bonnie among others.

It would also feature children from the Trinity Hope Centre, Spirit of Inspiration, Oasis Choral, TBC Sunday School/Bridge and the SaYA Drama and Choreography Troupe.

Administrator of Trinity Baptist Churc, Roberta Arthur tells Adom News the concert is part of a three-day fund-raising event to raise money for a bus to cart needy children from the environs of the orphanage to the new school, which would start from September this year.

She said the school is set to admit new pupils from the community, but many of the residents of that area are unable to provide transportation for their children to attend the school, so “we want to use this occasion to raise funds for a new bus for the purpose.”

Roberta Arthur also noted that the concert and the three-day event are also intended to create awareness about the orphanage.

Leader of Alabaster Box, Samuel Dowuona, told Adom News “we were there in 2008 when the Centre was commissioned and we are happy to be part of this good cause designed to provide relief for the needy.”

He said the group is overwhelmed by the remarkable compassion Rev. Dr. Kingsley Appiagyei and his wife Pastor Cynthia Appiagyei have for people in general and for the needy in particular, and that inspire the group to support also charity in their own way.

“For us it is not just an opportunity to share our god-given ministry with the audience, but also to support a good cause by a man we consider to be our spiritual father as a group,” Sammy said. “We trust that the Centre will derive maximum benefit from this concert.”

Trinity Hope Centre is a charitable organization started by the Trinity Baptist Church, London and Accra, under the leadership of Rev. Dr. Kingsley Appiagyei in August, 2008. It is dedicated to providing a place of care and love for orphans, homeless, the abandoned, underprivileged and the lonely.

The centre was started in response to the overwhelming statistics on orphans and child poverty in Ghana as reported by the United Nations. Many of such children include babies of teenage mothers, babies abandoned in hospitals due to poverty or loss of parents from illness including HIV and AIDS.

Currently, the Centre has two homes housing three families on site, a chapel, a nursery and primary school and an administrative block, with a vast land set to expand in the near future. It house 17 children on site, but support over 250 children in the community, with support from Compassion International.

The vision of the Hope Centre is to provide quality education, family lives and homes for these children who, through no fault of theirs, fin d themselves in this situation.

“Our core mission at THC is to develop support programs that will restore hope to those marginalized and less privileged within our communities,” Roberta Arthur said.

The Centre works with communities to provide relief for the needs of children, such as nutrition, education, medical, emotional, and practical support to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives.

It upholds strong Christian values, high quality education, pastoral care, discipline, building confident children and vibrant learning environment as it core values in bringing up the needy children.

Roberta Arthur noted that at the Centre, five children are assigned a mother and father so that they grow with family values, adding that there is strict monitoring by social workers to ensure responsible parenting and proper child development.

The Centre also has a child sponsorship program in partnership with Compassion International, for the less privileged in the Ayensudo / Elmina/ Cape Coast area, a nursery and primary school open to all in the community, a clinic open to the entire community, and an IT and vocational training centre.

The Centre also has a nurturing program that supports children from the orphanage until they complete university.

It also has community support services, including support for teenage parents to further their education, and support for young widows to acquire skills to make them financially independent, while older widows are catered for periodically.