Widows Day: Group pleads for corporate organisation’s support

A nongovernmental organisation, Off the Hook Foundation for Rural Dwellers, has appealed to corporate organisations and individuals to support its programme in alleviating the sufferings of widows and vulnerable rural dwellers.
Founder of the NGO, Mrs. Ugoeze Nwamara-Ogbonna, made the appeal in a statement on Saturday in Lagos.
“The foundation is appealing for support by way of donation of used and unused clothes, sewing machines, grinding machines, farm implements, and food items to the widows.
“This is aimed at making the 2017 International Widows Day a remarkable event.
“There is no better time to reach out to the widows and vulnerable rural dwellers than now, nothing is too little or too big,” she said.
The International Widows Day is a United Nations ratified day of action to address the “poverty and injustice faced by millions of widows and their dependants in many countries”.
The day, which takes place annually on every June 23, was established to raise awareness on the issue of widowhood.
The significance of June 23 is that it was on that day in 1954 that Shrimati Pushpa Wati Loomba, mother of the foundation’s founder, Lord Loomba, became a widow.
Nwamara-Ogbonna said that her organisation would on June 23 donate various empowerment items to no fewer than 1,000 widows from 27 local government areas of Imo in commemoration of the day.
She said that the foundation, being a charity-driven, non-profit organisation, was poised to enhance the living standard of the vulnerable in the rural communities.
According to her, the foundation’s programmes include advocacy and encouraging quality primary and secondary education under the platform of pupils and students parliamentary session.
“Care and support for our senior citizens in a care home environment in time of loneliness, while utilising their potential in promoting, preserving and showcasing our most cherished dying cultural heritages.
“ Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger through youths and women mentoring, training, empowerment, skills acquisition, among others,’’ she said. (NAN)