"Santa Comes To Visit" Initiative Puts Smiles On Families Faces This Yuletide Season

Christmas is a time to share goodwill and spread love. Save Our Needy reached out to widows, single mothers and struggling mothers this Christmas through our annual Christmas initiative entitled "Santa Comes To Visit." This is the 3rd year of the initiative and the theme was "Fill A Goodie Bag Campaign."

Verdant Zeal Marketing and Communications Company organized an Xmas party for some past beneficiaries of SON projects as well as the SON team

The Save Our Needy team visited the homes of lucky beneficiaries armed with goodie bags filled with food items, clothing, toys and toiletries. The initiative aims at restoring hope and smiles in the homes of the downtrodden during the yuletide season.

Some of the gifts SON donated to disadvantaged families

Marvella Odili (CEO, Save Our Needy) playing Santa to the Nwabueze family

Time to dig into the goodie bag

This year, more than 30 families were visited due to the long list of requests for assistance received. The beneficiaries were selected after careful investigation to ascertain their claims of being needy people. The women who benefitted from the program are going through a lot of hardship. Two of the women visited presently live in their shops because they cannot afford to pay house rent.

Mrs. Adeola and her daughters were very happy to get a surprise visit from the SON team

They exuded so much excitement as they admired their gifts

Mrs. Esther Bassey and her children were happy to see Santa

Lots of goodies for every member of the family

Mrs. Bassey excitedly checking out the goodies in her goodie bag

Meet some of the families visited:

Mrs Adeola, who has single-handedly been taking care of her 5 children ever since her husband abandoned them with no means of survival. Most times they all end up sleeping in her shop. They barely have food to eat and worse still, they were sent packing recently due to her inability to pay the rent.

Ms Esifa opening gifts for herself and her son

Mrs Opeyemi presently lives with her aged parents. She has been responsible for the upkeep of her 3 children for the past 3 years since she left her marriage due to constant domestic violence.

Ifeoluwa's mom ( a widow) was very happy to show off her new dress

Jerry Odili, Save Our Needy Program Manager, with Ifeoluwa's family

Lots of smiles as Ifeoluwa surprised her mom with our visit

Mrs. Nwabueze is a widow who lost her husband last year after a long-standing illness. The illness rendered her family penniless and now they live from hand to mouth in a shoddy one-room apartment.

Mrs. Ubah admiring a lovely dress for her daughter, little Nicole

Mrs. Ubah and her little ones were overjoyed

Mrs Ayeyemi was a beneficiary last year. She is a young widow who lost her husband to cancer. We reached out to her again this year because her situation has gotten worse. She has relocated with her 3 children from Ikotun to a very remote part of Lagos because of her inability to pay the high rent.

So much joy in the Ayeyemi household as Santa came to visit

Little Simi admiring one of the dresses given to her

Little Simi shows off another beautiful outfit

The Ayeyemi children with their gift of toys and food items

Mrs. Bassey, a seamstress, is a widow who practically lives in her shop with her 3 children because she can't afford to pay for an apartment.

Rachael expressed so much happiness as she got gifts for herself and her daughter

Opening presents

Rachael was so happy to see another beautiful dress for her daughter, Emmanuella

After a week long of activities, the SON team rounded up visits on December 27th. Special thanks to Verdant Zeal Marketing and Communications (International) company, who went all out to get donations for this initiative under their ''Good Cheer Initiative''. We also thank the Shoprite Community Network, Keystone Bank and PEP Stores for their wonderful support.

Read below some of the appreciative messages from beneficiaries of the "Santa Comes To Visit" initiative. These beneficiaries are blog visitors (BVs) from Stella Dimoko Korkus blog: www.stelladimokokorkus.com

Nne nwa28 December 2016 at 14:26

a big shoutout to Save Our Needy, these people put a smile on a face in spite of hardship and recession.

they came over to my home and gifted me a lot of gifts for Christmas celebration(that was on 24).

now today they called me over to come get a box of clothes for i and my kids. they even foresaw my forth coming job next year and gave me corporate wears.

just as you have put smiles on my face this season, turned my sorrow to happiness, may God locate your every need. thank you, thank you, thank you. may you never know lack throughout your life.

Anonymous28 December 2016 at 15:26

This is to say a big thank you to SAVE OUR NEEDY....am too siprised to say anything, I wasnt even qualified for the giveaway becoz am not based in lag....but the took the pain of going to do waybill just for me and my unborn....may God bless and reward you all....Stella words just can't describe your person...all I can say is God will bless and reward you...my husband was shocked to see the gifts....hahahahah at last my everyday browsing paid off... According to him...
God bless you all

....from BV joy A...Stella you should know who.

Anonymous28 December 2016 at 14:02

I wanna say a very big thank you to save our needy for making this Christmas celebration a memorable one for my son. It's not been easy as a single mum. I benefitted from them last year. So this year, I was contacted again even without applying for the giveaway and i was blown away by the massive love shown to my son and I. Mere words can't express how grateful I am. I got clothes, shoes, rice, vegetable oil, toy, noodles even frozen chicken and some other things. Thank you save our needy, may God continue to bless and uplift you. Thank you Stella for the medium being used to touch people's lives. May God bless you too. Attached are pictures. I'm sorry they are not clear.

Bv Blessing

Keystone Bank Partners With Save Our Needy on "Santa Comes To Visit" Initiative

The CSR team and staff of Keystone Bank as a way of supporting Save Our Needy's Xmas initiative entitled "Santa Comes To Visit" presented a huge goodie bag to Save Our Needy CEO, Marvella Odili, at their headquarters in Victoria Island, Lagos.

Marvella Odili, CEO, Save Our Needy (middle)

The goodie bag

All items donated will be given to beneficiaries, who are mostly widows and single-mothers, of the "Santa Comes To Visit" initiative. This act is to make the season merry and memorable for them as they cannot afford to celebrate.

Surprise visits will be made to the homes of selected lucky beneficiaries. The initiative, which is in its 3rd year has brought joy and cheer to many homes during the yuletide season. Food items, clothing, toys and toiletries have been freely given to disadvantaged women and their children since the inception of this initiative.

ONE Ambassadors Present Over 187,000 Signed Petitions to Nigerian Senate President

Congratulations to all of us who put in tremendous effort to push the #MakeNaijaStronger campaign with the aim of getting the Nigerian government to increase budget allocation to healthcare and reform the health sector. 187,240 signatures were presented to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, yesterday at Abuja by ONE Ambassadors, Waje, Desmond Elliot and Alli Nuhu.

ONE Ambassadors and ONE Africa Executive Director presenting the petitions to Nigerian Senate President

 This is a big step towards getting better health care for the hardest to reach people particularly women and girls.

This is no small feat as the Nigerian health sector has been in a deplorable state for several years now.
We have to continue working to make sure the government keeps their promises. The promises made mean that we are closer to getting other key parts of the Health Act like basic medical insurance.
Together, we can #MakeNaijaStronger

ONE Ambassador, Waje and Nachilala Nkombo, ONE Africa Executive Director (Interim)

 Kicked off early in 2016, the Make Naija Stronger Campaign has shed light on the deplorable state of healthcare in Nigeria while calling on the Federal Government to help save millions of lives and create a more healthy, prosperous and secure nation. The Townhall meeting was organised by ONE Campaign in partnership with Connected Development and The Wellbeing Foundation. 

Join Us On ''Santa Comes To Visit'' Initiative

Christmas is almost here! Imagine the expectations on the faces of innocent children as they hear Christmas carols everywhere they go. 

As you celebrate or prepare to celebrate this season, don't just spare a thought, DO something remarkable for someone who won't be able to celebrate without your help. Yes, life is tough but remember that some have it tougher. 

Join us on our Xmas initiative entitled "Santa Comes To Visit." Show love to disadvantaged widows and single-mothers by making financial or material donations in order to make this initiative a huge success.

THANK YOU!

Happy holidays!!!

Save Our Needy Launches M.E.T Girls

In commemoration of the UN Universal Children's Day, Save Our Needy implemented the M.E.T Girls program. On Friday, November 18th, notable speakers converged in New Era Girls High School, Lagos, to inspire, motivate and educate young girls to take the lead and become successful in every sphere of their lives. 

Two public secondary schools in Lagos State namely New Era Girls High School and Ajigbeda Girls Senior Secondary School were selected to participate in the program which aims at Motivating, Educating and Training young girls to become leaders.

The guest speakers gave the girls compelling reasons to believe in themselves and in their abilities to become successful leaders in whatever they choose to do in life. There was an interactive question and answer session where the girls had their questions answered.

Speakers at the event were; 

Mrs Scholastica Lan, a fellow of the West African Post Graduate College of Pharmacists and Program Manager at Nigerian Academy Of Science. She urged the girls to enrol in STEM classes and break barriers in the world of technology in Africa.

Kate Ekanem, a writer and a Girls' Rights Activist. She is the first Nigerian to represent the African Union at the global Girl20 summit, Turkey. She is a Vital Lady of the Vital Initiative Africa, a Delegate for Development Dialogue Nigeria, a Queen Young Leaders awardee, and a Global Media forum scholar. 

Anu Adelakun, a passionate Gender Advocate, journalist and Development practitioner with years of experience working on issues affecting marginalized girls and women in Nigeria. She is dedicated to empowering, and creating opportunities for girls and women in rural and underserved communities.

 

Being a very grave issue affecting every Nigerian today, the ONE "Make Naija Stronger" Campaign was highlighted at the end of the program. Participants were urged to sign petitions that will be presented to the Nigerian government in December to put pressure on them to improve healthcare in Nigeria.

Save Our Needy strongly believes that investing in girls education, health and safety is a key to ensuring they reach their full potential as well as improve Nigeria's development. We believe that the provision of quality education for girls is critical to breaking the cycle of poverty.

The MET Girls program supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of promoting girl-child education as well as ending extreme poverty and gender inequality by 2030.

This initiative was implemented in partnership with ONE Campaign and Waje Safe House.