Westminster’s worship service on December 13 highlighted a verse from the first chapter of Luke: “The Lord. . . has filled the hungry with good things.” The next day (December 14), the African Mission Committee set in motion plans to wire $1,000 raised this fall to help partners in West Africa feed hungry children and some of the adults who care for them during this year’s holiday season. For Ghana we will send $500 (including an earmarked donation for $250) to help HOCAP raise $8,500 for an expanded Boxing Day program to distribute food and a toy to 500 children on Dec. 26. For the first time, HOCAP is covering the street children and children in several orphanages it fed last spring during the coronavirus lockdowns. Our Church partners in Tema – Greenwich and Redemption – fund separate Christmas food programs. For Liberia we will send $250 to provide a holiday meal for the entire Hope Mission community. African Mission budget has already sent $600 for holiday gifts for Hope Mission teachers. For Sierra Leone Westminster will add $250 to the first 2021 quarterly distribution of food to orphans at the M.O.M. orphanage in Sierra Leone. Food prices have risen sharply reducing the amount of food that can be purchased with the $890 allocated for quarterly programs since 2015. Barbara Asempa, Executive Director of HOCAP, wrote to thank Westminster for the $500 being sent, saying, “Your support makes the Christmas Love Box Program for less privileged children and orphans possible. O thank God for the immense role you play.” ~ Lois Wilson on behalf of Westminster’s African Mission Committee Lois Wilson has been a Westminster volunteer since she retired from State Government in 1997 and decided to focus on projects and activities affecting individuals. Since 2005, she has helped to organize holiday parties for homeless families at Schuyler Inn, with volunteers from Westminster and the Zonta Club of Albany. She has been an active co-chair of Westminster’s African Ministries Committee since 2001, helping with Church mission trips to Ghana and Liberia and liaison with groups representing West African immigrants. In Spring 2018 she moved to the Avila Retirement Community where she now volunteers and has helped to organize MoonBees for the MoonCatcher Project.
WPC Sends Funds to Africa to Feed Hungry People
