Griffieths leave jobs for faith journey to Namibia
La-Z-Boy reps support mission trip
By Gerri Hunt -- Furniture Today, January 29, 2006
Dayton, Ohio — Two industry veterans who decided to redirect their lives received some help on the first leg of their journey from Midwest La-Z-Boy representatives.
Mike Griffieth left his job with La-Z-Boy in October after seven years. His wife, Bona, left retailer Morris Furniture in Dayton after five years as a buyer. Earlier, they both had worked as buyers for more than 20 years for now-defunct Roberds Furniture in Dayton.
In 2004, Bona Griffieth and the couple's 20-year-old daughter, Kendall, traveled to Africa on an HIV/AIDS education mission trip arranged by their church, Apex Community Church in Ketterling, Ohio.
"(Their trip) affected our lives very spiritually," said Mike Griffieth. After the first journey, his daughter raised money and returned to Africa in June.
It didn't take long for Griffieth and his wife to realize they wanted to make changes.
"We decided to leave our organizations to go in a different direction in our life," he said.
They resolved to go to Namibia, in southwestern Africa, to visit their daughter and help the children there. Their plan was to take some African children on a camping trip to the shore.
Griffieth was so excited about his upcoming trip that he couldn't help but talk about it to other Midwest La-Z-Boy reps. Impressed with the mission's goals, they began donating money. While the church raised a majority of the funds for the trip, the reps donated enough to take five more children camping.
On Dec. 5, the couple left for Okahandja, Namibia.
"It's not sticks and huts," said Griffieth. "It's a modern-type city, just with no jobs. People were eating out of trash cans. It's a tough country."
What makes the situation worse is that, according to the United Nations, as of 2003 about 21% of Namibia's adult population was infected HIV.
"They don't know why they get sick. There's no infrastructure with TV to tell them," said Griffieth. "People just get sick and die. It's a shame."
The couple wound up taking 30 children camping. Mike Griffieth struggled for words to describe the five-day trip.
"To see the looks on the faces of these kids, some who have never seen the shore, it was neat," he said. "Some of them have never had three square meals a day. Some skip every other day."
When the couple returned to Okahandja from the coast, they visited orphanages filled with children who had lost their parents to AIDS. They returned home Dec. 22.
Griffieth said he is grateful for the money he received from the La-Z-Boy reps.
"Some continued to give money even after I left (the company)," he said. "It's a nice gesture from them. You can't do any missions without financial support."
The Griffieths have moved to Waynesville, N.C.
"We don't know what the future brings," said Mike, although he said he and his wife would like to work for a faith-based business. They also plan to continue supporting missions to Africa, and he has already started contacting people in the furniture industry.
"Americans as a society want to give," he said. "They just don't know how to give it or to get it to the right places."
To donate money for mission trips to Africa, send a check to Apex Community Church, Africa HIV/AIDS Fund, 5200 Far Hills Ave., Ketterling, Ohio 45429.
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