On a flight in April 2023 to Liberia a casual conversation with a fellow passenger on the plane turns into so much.  A quick friendship was formed and he was very interested in the work our organization was doing in Liberia so we decided to have dinner while I was in Liberia with my medical/dental team.  Little did I know what that dinner would lead to.  After sharing all the work we were doing in Liberia and all the needs at Bright Star Orphanage, my friend, Clay, then tells our team at dinner he is the Director of APM Terminals.  He would like to go out and see the orphanage and how maybe APM Terminals might be able to help.   When Clay met mama and all the children at the orphanage he was all in.  He knew these children needed a kitchen.  Their current cooking was done on an open fire under a thatched roof lean-to.  They had no power within a 20 minute drive of their location.  They had no way to store any meat or keep anything cold.  After the meals were cooked the children would sit on the ground, under a tree to eat.  By the end of 2023 I was flying back to Liberia for the groundbreaking ceremony at Bright Star Orphanage for the new kitchen!   Clay and his team at APM Terminals decided that not only did they need a kitchen with solar power so they could have a stove, refrigerator and a chest freezer but he also made the building much bigger so they could have a nice dining room with table and chairs to eat at.  The kitchen was finished in February of 2024.  Terminals spent over $40,000 building.   It is the nicest building for many miles around and people come by everyday to see it.  Mama is able to make a little income from the kitchen by selling cold drinks to others in the village, renting out the dining area for events and charging a very small fee to “charge phones”.  You never know where a conversation on a plane will lead!