Welcome to Building Solid Foundations, Inc.

Imagine a world where everyone has access to safe drinking water…and healthcare, and all the things we take for granted. Unfortunately, we don’t have that kind of world yet.

Fortunately, there are people like the Quarteys. Dr. Seth and Grace Quartey are two Pennsylvania residents who decided the dire situation in their home country, Ghana, called for action. Because of the extreme need they found there, they created Building Solid Foundations, a nonprofit organization designed to change the face of rural Ghana. Since 2003, with the help of Aldersgate United Methodist Church in York, PA, Rotary International, Lifetime Well Drilling Company in Denton, Maryland and many volunteers, BSF has:

• drilled 150 wells, bringing safe water to 120,000 people
• sent medical teams to treat malaria, parasitic diseases, tuberculosis, and AIDS, and performed reconstructive and other surgeries
• researched and begun an agricultural planting experiment
• improved sanitation conditions in and around a local hospital and school
• donated books to form the first library in a rural area
• built the area’s first playground

Join with us as we improve the lives of the thousands of people in Ghana who face death and disease, poverty and illiteracy.
Together, we can change their future.

BUILDING SOLID FOUNDATIONS Inc., was established in York County PA in May 2003 as a non profit 501(c) (3) charitable organization to benefit rural Ghana. The name BUILDING SOLID FOUNDATIONS INC was chosen to give lasting focus to our commitment to supporting the basic building blocks of economic development.

Born and raised in Accra, the capital of Ghana, Grace and Seth Quartey, on a vacation back to Ghana in 2001, decided to visit the rural town of Apam where Grace had attended high school.   Appalled by the poverty and conditions that they saw, they returned to the states with a mission to help improve the lives of the people residing in Apam and other parts of rural Ghana.   Out of that mission Building Solid Foundations (BSF) was created in 2003.  Since that time, with the help of many partners including Aldersgate United Methodist Church, Rotary International and many volunteers, BSF has:

• sent medical teams and equipment to Apam Catholic Hospital to treat malaria, parasitic diseases, tuberculosis, and AIDS, and performed reconstructive and other surgeries
• improved water sanitation conditions in and around the local hospital and nearby schools
• developed libraries and teacher resource materials at two K-9 public schools in Apam
• built the area’s first playground
• researched and initiated an experimental agricultural program at the local high school
• launched an ice-making business and a fish processing cooperative

Join with us as we improve the lives of the thousands of people in Ghana who face death and disease, poverty and illiteracy.
Working together, we can change their future.

In 2001, Grace and Seth Quartey traveled to Apam, Ghana to visit Grace’s grandmother. Even though they are both native Ghanaians, the Quarteys were unprepared for the poverty and disease that surrounded them, permeating the air, leaving its indelible mark upon all facets of life in Apam. When the Quarteys left Ghana to return to Pennsylvania, they resolved to improve the lives of the 22,000 children, women, and men who live in Apam, and other parts of rural Ghana.

Grace and Seth realized quickly that all of the components – medical, educational, sanitary, agricultural, industrial - must be present in order to produce lasting change.

You might think that their busy accounting and medical practices, and the physical distance between Ghana and Central Pennsylvania would weaken the Quarteys’ resolve. With the support and encouragement of many, the Quarteys founded Building Solid Foundations, a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to create an environment that allows Apam to become a model town in Ghana.

Accountant and business owner Grace Quartey enjoys strong community ties in Apam and has devoted numerous hours to establishing a fruitful partnership between Building Solid Foundations’ volunteers and the residents of Apam. Volunteers and Board Members from the United States and Ghana work tirelessly to strengthen and forge new partnerships.

The hand up offered to Apam by Building Solid Foundations provides the skills and tools that the people of Apam desperately need in order to transform their town into a model for similar towns in Ghana.

You will probably agree that the Quartey’s and Building Solid Foundations’ idea of a model town is the kind of town that we take for granted - a town where residents have access to clean water, great healthcare, sanitation facilities, a strong education system and a thriving agricultural industry.

With your help, Apam will become a town like your town.

If we have your help, that day will come more quickly.

At Building Solid Foundations, our goal is to create an environment that allows Apam to become a model town in Ghana.

You may be wondering just how we plan to accomplish that ambitious mission. After all, Apam is 5,300 miles away from Building Solid Foundation (BSF)’s headquarters in York, PA.

Yet, we are seeing successes, and with your help, we will make dreams come true.

Since Building Solid Foundations’ founding in 2003, people like you have collected almost 20,000 books, donated more than $325,000 in cash and medical and educational equipment, and packed that donated equipment for shipping. Others have traveled to Ghana during one and two-week working trips.

As a result of this generosity,

• People in Apam are beginning to receive reconstructive and other surgical procedures that they might otherwise not receive. Your support makes it possible for Building Solid Foundations’ medical teams to continue to perform these life-changing surgeries.

• Children, adults, and families who suffer from malaria, parasitic diseases, tuberculosis, and AIDS are receiving treatment. But, we aren’t stopping there. With your help we will greatly improve sanitation in and around the local hospital and school in order to reduce the breeding grounds for bacteria.  By providing more than treatment, by reducing the source of bacteria, the incidence of infection declines, individuals’ disease resistance improves, nutrition improves, and early deaths become more infrequent.

• Master gardeners, agronomists, and casual gardeners are helping farmers in Apam carry out a planting experiment that will change agricultural practices. Your partnership with Building Solid Foundations will positively affect Apam’s quest for self-sufficiency.

• Children living in rural Apam now have a library to explore. They can swing, slide, and climb on the area’s very first playground. Like you, we appreciate the business of childhood: PLAY.  These children will grow and thrive with your care.

There is so much more that can be done…that must be accomplished.

You know that the playing field isn’t always level. People arrive in life with different talents and variable resources. That’s why the partnership between Ghanaians and Building Solid Foundations works so well. We’re not handing out cash. We provide technical know how, moral support, and much-needed equipment, supplies and resources.

The people of Apam provide labor to keep projects going even when Building Solid Foundations’ volunteers have returned home. Their thirst for knowledge and dreams for the future continually inspire us.

Your gift to Building Solid Foundations underwrites the efforts of responsible people who want to lead better lives, who are willing to work for better lives, who can achieve better lives with technical help and support.

About Us

Not a band aid…not a handout.

A helping hand up…a partnership…a solid foundation.