By Eileen Shomo
Jan Bean meets with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, winner of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.
“Engaging Hearts, Unleashing Hope” is the motto of Compassion Corps (CC), which through advocacy, training and fundraising events, seeks to mobilize volunteers to serve both here and on short-term teams in African countries.
Janine Bean and Beth McMillen, both Glen Mills residents, direct the work of CC and will be overseeing a group of volunteers from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Feb. 4 at Chester Heights Self Storage to box up thousands of books and school supplies to be shipped to Liberia.
Mrs. Bean has been Director/CEO) and Mrs. McMillen Co-Director/COO/Short-term Teams Coordinator since the program began in 2007.
The women were inspired to start the program after they made a trip to Morocco in 2004 during spring break when they were both teachers at Christian Academy in Brookhaven.
“Beth and I became concerned with the plight of abandoned and orphaned children as well as (the desire) to help train and empower women there,” said Mrs. Bean. “This led to taking teams of volunteers to serve there alongside of indigenous workers who are trying to establish their own works of compassionate relief and economic development.
“Over the past eight years, Beth and I have made over 25 trips to Africa and we have enlarged our efforts to form field partnerships and take service teams not only to Morocco, but also to Senegal, Mali, Liberia, Tunisia and Uganda.”
Mrs. Bean said the team averages about three trips a year to the various locations and throughout the rest of the year, CC works on advocacy and fundraising efforts on their partners’ behalf.
CC is a 501c charitable organization and is not affiliated with any church or religious group but is fortunate to have the support of many area churches, clubs, schools, and businesses, according to Mrs. Bean.
“We work hard to raise funds through events such as last year’s 5K Run, Wheels for Wells, women’s teas, church banquets, speaking engagements and other events., as well as through accepting donations made directly through our website,” the director said..
On one of their many trips to several African countries, the volunteers were able to meet with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner, who invited team members to her office to personally thank them for the work they have done in her country.
President Sirleaf requested specifically that the Corps send reading materials of all kinds to help their schools increase the literacy of her people, since nearly a whole generation of Liberians went uneducated when most libraries and schools were destroyed and teachers killed or fled the country during two long civil wars.
Chester Heights Self Storage on Stoneybank Road in Chester Heights has generously donated stored the books and will provide space for a large container in which the books will be shipped to Monrovia, Liberia. In Monrovia, more than 5,000 books, (most of which have come from Neumann University and other donors) will be distributed to schools there with which the CC has established meaningful partnerships. The books range from high school to college level, with a good supply also for children in lower grades.
“But what we still need are more classroom sets of books (30-40 texts) so that a classroom could, for example, provide a reusable math or language or literature book,” Mrs. Bean said. “We can also use more funds to help purchase the limited but locally available texts and supplies in Liberia.”
The non-profit group is hoping have a container donated or the funds to purchase one, with the promise that Firestone Rubber Co. will ship the container to Liberia free of charge.
Many of the volunteers who are expected to help box the books and supplies will be from the Storehouse Church in Conshohocken, which has a “Fifth Sunday” program designed to get church members out of the pews and into places of service in the community every month that contains a fifth Sunday.
CC expects to have as many as 50 willing helpers on Feb. 4, since their volunteer base extends from Warminster to York to South Jersey and Bear, Del.
“Local businesses are also getting involved,” said Mrs. Bean. “Bryn Mawr Trust Bank has donated parking lot space for volunteers, Chester Heights Store has offered space for the container and space for the work crews and Chester Heights Borough has even waived the cost of a permit for the storage container.”
Mrs. Bean CC sent a teacher-training team to Liberia this summer, a multi-faceted service team to Morocco that provided care to orphans and the disabled and this past November, a medical team from CC traveled to Uganda, another war-torn African country struggling to rebuild schools and basic healthcare services.
The CC team that visited Uganda included two nurses, Katie Yori and Nadji Gilliam, a children’s ministry worker, Sandy Donnelly; the Rev. Jane Ritterson, Pastor of Aston Presbyterian church; a local high school student, Megan Kok and Lois Wallace and Ms. Bean from CC.
In addition to Liberia, Morocco and Uganda, the CC also serves in Egypt, Mali, Senegal and Tunisia.
CC volunteers will travel to Morocco again on April 4 to help with physical therapy training and to run children’s program. In June they will take a teacher training group to Liberia, that they hope will include medical and construction workers.
To learn more and how to get involved with the mission of Compassion Corps, call Jan Bean, jbean. You can also visit the website at www.compassion-corps.com.
