Christmas: Group targets 700 widows for food supply

 

A group, Healing Heart Foundation, is to empower two widows with N50,000 each, and give food items to no fewer than 700 widows.

The President of the foundation, Mrs Sophy Mbanisi, made this known during the “2022 Annual Mega Feast (Christmas party) for widows on Monday.

The event was organised by the foundation in Lagos.

Mbanisi said that the essence of the event was to celebrate the widows and put smile on their faces.

According to her, the group, yearly, through its programmes, has been helping widows and some  other  members of the society in the past 20 years.

She said that the foundation had been assisting widows, indigent women and poor families to cater for educational needs of their children.

According to her, skills acquisition and other empowerment programmes are often organised by the foundation for the needy, after which the foundation assists them with some capital to start small businesses.

“For today’s programme, we are marking our Annual Mega Feast (Christmas party) through which we extend some alms-giving to widows and the less privileged.

“We will be distributing different food items comprising packs of spaghetti, yam, rice, beans, seasonings, fabrics, among others, to not less than 700 widows.

“Similarly, two widows will be financially empowered with N50,000 each, to either enhance their existing businesses or start petty businesses.

“The objective is to make widows financially independent, because making them financially capable means less burden on us,” Mbanisi said.

She urged the widows to always be consistent in whatever they did, saying that consistency was key to success.

“It is with little drops of water that an ocean is formed; be consistent in whatever business you do.

“No matter how small it might be, within a short time, it will grow to become a big business outfit,” she advised.

The Programme Coordinator of the Foundation, Mr Joshua Maxwell, said that the group had put smile on the faces of many widows through its programmes.

He called on well-meaning Nigerians, philanthropists, organisations and faith-based centres to extend helping hands to widows and the needy.

The Coordinator, Alimosho Zone of the Foundation, Mrs Philomena Oduh, urged  widows to always put their trust in God and desist from wearing ‘sympathetic’ faces.

Oduh, also a widow, said that most widows could actually be gainfully engaged in one business or the other and be making incomes.

She said, however, that some widows lacked the courage and determination to stand on their own.

“That your husband is dead does not mean the end of life for you; you can work hard and be great in life, earning good money.

“You still have a purpose to fulfil in life, all you need do is to be focused and put your trust in God,” she said.