The first of five containers packed with enough medical supplies to stock seven hospitals is on its way to Ghana, and the first lady of that West African nation on Thursday told backers of the nonprofit that sent the aid that it is sure to save lives.
Improving maternal and child health is part of a strategy “to transform Ghana into a middle-income country,” Ernestina Naadu Mills said Thursday at the First Ladies’ Luncheon.
The annual event, sponsored by MillerCoors, benefits Project C.U.R.E. (the Commission on Urgent Relief and Equipment), a Denver-based organization that collects and sends $50 million worth of supplies a year to hospitals in about 40 countries. Colorado’s Jeannie Ritter, Frances Owens and Wilma Webb co-chaired the event, which was attended by about 1,800 people.
A Ghana-bound container packed with about $400,000 of donated medical supplies left Wednesday. Newmont Mining sponsored the first container. Four more are slated to move using funds raised at the luncheon. Newmont runs a gold mine in Ghana that employs more than 500 workers.
Project C.U.R.E. stands out in a wave of U.S. foreign aid administered by private citizens. Private aid — such as that done by dozens of other Denver groups working everywhere from Sudan to Central America — channels an estimated $30 billion a year to people abroad, surpassing official government-to-government aid.
Mills and a delegation of health- ministry officials on Wednesday inspected Project C.U.R.E.’s warehouse, where volunteers were sorting donated supplies.
She walked through rows of labeled items, including forceps, tubing and surgical gloves.
“The problem is always with children,” she said, referring to stagnant conditions in rural parts of Ghana. “If they are born without problems, it makes things easier for them.”
A volunteer shouted “akwaaba!” (“welcome”). And as retired airline captain Dick Weiler, 70, drove a forklift loading a pallet, Mills leaned toward him and shouted, “Good morning!” over the machine’s beeps.
“Thank you for the work you are doing,” she shouted.
She said she was amazed by the 10,000 volunteers who drive the redistribution of medical supplies that would otherwise be discarded.
“Good people, putting themselves to use for the benefit of others,” she said. “God bless you.”
Bruce Finley: 303-954-1700 or bfinley@denverpost.com
