"This turned out to be one of the most memorable two weeks of my life," said Alan Braithwaite about his recent service project.

Ivanti has always encouraged community involvement, but the idea was kicked into high gear in January when executives rolled out an official unlimited volunteer time off policy, also known as #IvantiCares.

The policy has since inspired many employees to give back, a few of which we've spotlighted on the blog:

One of our more recent #IvantiCares advocates, Alan Braithwaite, got so much positive engagement on social media that we knew his experience should be spotlighted next.

Ghana Make A Difference

Working alongside the non-profit organization Ghana Make A Difference, Alan put his volunteer time off to good use.

"Ghana Make A Difference (GMAD) owns a five acre compound where they provide shelter and schooling for children who have been rescued from forced labor trafficking, abandonment, or who have special needs, until they able to reintegrate them with their biological family or to place them in a new family," Alan said. "They also recently built a medical facility on the compound to provide medical services to the local community. As we researched GMAD, we decided it would be the kind of opportunity we were looking for."

Bags packed and ready for the long flight, Alan, his son, and 12 volunteers flew to Ghana where they would be for the next two weeks.

There were 55 children at the shelter. The first half of each day was spent teaching, interacting with, and encouraging the children, for the purpose of helping them feel loved and prepared to reintegrate with their family or another family.

The last half of each day was spent doing more manual labor type tasks. The group of volunteers helped build a house for a needy family in a nearby village, improved the play area, and worked on landscaping around the living facilities and the newly built medical facility.

"My son and I will always remember those children and hope we did our small part to help them," Alan said. "We could witness and experience the impact GMAD is having on the children and local area. It was a very tearful farewell at the end of our stay. I would highly recommend this kind of project to my Ivanti peers and friends and anyone else who wants to make a difference."

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