Media Release

Dubbo Tips Scales for Africa

Dubbo Tips scales for Africa

14 February 2005

In a novel approach to philanthropy a local Dubbo business has found a way to make a huge difference to people half a world away in Africa.

Local Dubbo business, Pizza Runners, this week sent more than $300 to a Training Centre in the impoverished Western African country of Ghana. The money had been gathered by staff pooling their tips in a common fund to enable the transfer to happen.

Last week the bottle was filled and it was found that the fund had accumulated to in excess of $300.

Manager of Pizza Runners Dubbo, Mr Angus Godfrey picks up the story:

Our staff members have all agreed that, whilst it’s good for individuals to take a few dollars home at the end of the night, that there is something even better about collecting the money and seeing how much can be gathered.

It only took a few months to get to $300 and that is a significant amount of money when it’s getting sent to a third world country. There’s a good sense of achievement to collecting money for a worthwhile cause and knowing that those few dollars here and there will make a big difference somewhere in the world.

I‘d like our loyal customers to know that not only have they enjoyed a quality pizza, and in doing so supported a truly local business, but they’ve also been able to contribute to the quality of life of someone over in Africa.

The money has been sent to the Cornerstone Training Centre located in Ghana. It is the vision of a Ghanaian student that studied at Cornerstone in the early 1990s and decided he needed to do something similar for his homeland.

The centre was established in 1999 and has graduated students for the past four years and commissioned them to a lifestyle of help and care for others similar to that carried out by Cornerstone’s mission teams in Dubbo.

Much of this has been achieved with little help, both financial and in personnel. Kwadwo’s vision and sacrifice have been used to establish a training facility that is critical to Ghana’s development, drawing comments such as “this mission is sent from God to help Ghana when it needs it most” (Walter Pimpong, Director of International Needs in Ghana).

Cornerstone’s Director of Business and Finance, Mr Andrew Grant, explained what the money would achieve once it reached Ghana.

“$300 isn’t a lot of money to Australian but it will translate to 2 million cedi (the local currency) and will be enough to keep 20 people fed and clothed and to receive their training for more than two weeks.”

“Kwadwo operates several businesses to support his training and ministry, much like Pizza Runners does for the Cornerstone Campus and its work in Dubbo. However, for Kwadwo gifts like this are a lifeline to him in terms of getting extra bills paid and providing much needed breathing space.”

“I think it’s amazing to think that small gestures like a tip can go such a long way in needy parts of the world.”

The Cornerstone Community was established 25 years ago with the vision of giving practical expression to, and teaching in, the Christian faith as a ‘whole of life’ experience. It currently operates Training Centres in Bourke, Dubbo, Broken Hill and Canowindra. This year 10 mission teams are placed in five States across Australia.

Pizza Runners has stores in Broken Hill, Dubbo and Wellington. They are operated for the sole reason of supporting the activities of Cornerstone’s Training Centres. As well as producing a huge range of pizzas (including gourmet) made with fresh local product they also provide an on-the-job training facility for workplace training of Cornerstone students.

More information on the Ghana Training Centre can be viewed at: http://national.cornerstone.edu.au/uploads/files/os/ghana/ghanadream.htm