Father & Son use their local business to fuel philanthropic passion
Ken Wood and his son Ben, of Denton, Md. share a passion that extends beyond anything that money could buy. Over the course of nearly 10 years, they’ve spent millions of dollars to help set up water well’s for underdeveloped areas in Africa.
When Ken was approached by a chruch group to help set up water wells in Ghana, he knew he could help with supplies, but wasn’t quite sold on going there himself. But then, a sign. Ken was at an event where the keynote speaker was from Ghana. “That scared the bajeezes out of me, but furthermore his speech was on having to have to walk 2 miles twice a day to get water out of a scum pond.” Ken, while sharing his story says that is what gave him the jolt to jump into action.
Despite the everyday hustle of the business, realizing the lengths these people go through just to have water, Ken hopped on a plane and was hooked immediately. Ben Woods says he went on the next trip a few months later and finally was able to experience what his father had been raving about for half of a year.
Soon after, the spark that both father and son felt on their first trip, ignited a passion. Ken reasons with 47ABC “you have a talent that can save people’s lives, keep people from being sick all the time, why not? – you can’t stop.”
Nothing would stop them, either. When money was running thin, they found a way to make it work. They were able to get the local community invested in the protection of the well. “We set up a water committee so the people will save a little bit of money. We have a water committee that takes a little bit of money each month from their paycheck and put it in the bank and when the pump breaks down – they fix it.” Ken explains.
Having installed over 1,500 wells in Ghana and Tanzania, they take something from each well installed. Ben tells 47ABC “it’s still a learning experience every time we go we learn something”. Lessons exchanged between the Woods’ and those that receive the wells, and lessons learned from a father and son sharing a passion. Ken concludes “Things do not make you happy, helping others does.”
A family friend is now using all of his resources to help take a little bit of the burden off of the Woods’. Rocky Twyman says in a world with such traged happening seemingly every day, the work the Woods’ are doing is “divine”. Twyman tells 47ABC the water problem in Africa is a truly serious one, and calls to action from people across Delmarva and extending beyond that to the world to help with this cause “Here is an opportunity to prove that you really do care about humanity.”
More information on the drilling and information on how you can get involved can be found here: http://www.wellsforghana.org/
Twyman can be contacted at 301-768-107
