Save Our Needy Attends ONE Special Event In Lagos

Founder of ONE, multiple Grammy award winning lead singer, Sonny Bono of U2 hosted some Nigerian members of ONE in Lagos on August 27th 2015.

It was an interactive session that lasted more than two hours where more awareness was raised for the Poverty Is Sexist Campaign. The expectations for the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) due to start in September were also discussed. This era marks the end of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The venue was packed with special dignitaries from around the world: Co-founder of ONE, Jamie Drummond, Executive Director of ONE Africa, Dr. Sipho Moyo, Founder of MTV, CEO of Red, Deborah Dugan and other important personalities were present at the event. Bosun Tijani, CEO of Ce-Creation Hub and Ndidi Nwuneli were also among special guests at the event.

Nigerian celebrities, Waje and Omotola Jalade Ekeinde were also on hand to make the event very colourful.

ONE t-shirts and wristbands were distributed to members present. Guests were able to network whilst savouring the sumptuous refreshments made available.

Save Our Needy was represented by Marvella Odili (CEO) and Jerry Odili (Program Manager).

This memorable and fun event gave us the opportunity to meet and rub minds with people who share the same passion of fighting to end poverty in Africa.

“Better Life Through Education” Project Launched In Partnership With The Shoprite Community Network.

                                     

After months of preparation, the ‘’Better Life Through Education” project was finally launched today.

The main focus of this initiative is to promote early childhood development, encourage basic education amongst disadvantaged children and create a conducive atmosphere for learning.

Progressive Nursery and Primary School, Festac Town, Lagos, was the first beneficiary of this initiative. Whiteboards, dusters, markers, chairs and tables were donated to transform classes and improve learning conditions of the pupils. Some of the classrooms were also rehabilitated during the course of the project.

The SON and Shoprite Community Network teams were warmly received by excited parents, teachers, head teachers, members of the School Base Management Committee and members of the State Universal Basic Education (SUBEB), Lagos.

We sincerely wish to thank the Shoprite Community Network for ably and generously supporting us during this project. We also wish to express our gratitude to our partners Verdant Zeal, State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) Lagos as well as our media partners Stella Dimoko Korkus blog, Vanguard, Punch and ThisDay newspapers.

A nursery classroom of Progressive Nursery & Primary School, Festac Town, transformed

Whiteboards donated to the school

Head teacher, Mrs T.A Ajayi, representatives of State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Lagos, representatives of Sshoprite and SON team appreciating the transformation of the nursery class

From R-L: SON volunteer, CEO, Save Our Needy, Marvella Odili, representatives of School Base Management Committee, representatives of Shoprite Community Network, head teacher and teachers, Progressive Nursery & Primary School, Lagos. Squatting: SON Staff

Classrooms were also renovated

Before and after pictures of a nursery class of Progressive Nursery & Primary School, Festac Town, Lagos.

 SON volunteer, Onyinye Veola, representative of SUBEB, Lagos, CEO, Save Our Needy, Marvella Odili, representatives of School Base Management Committee, representatives of Shoprite Community Network, head teacher and teachers, Progressive Nursery & Primary School, Lagos. Squatting: SON Staff, Wale Olatunde and Ifeoma Ihionu

This is the pilot phase of the “Better Life Through Education” project. We hope to embark on the second phase in the not too distant future.

Support Project SAVE

We hope to commence a three-month (3 month) program entitled S.A.V.E (Skills Acquisition, Vocational training & Empowerment) to provide free training on vocational and life skills to one hundred and twenty (120) disadvantaged young people and women.

Through Project SAVE, we wish to train and empower single mothers, widows, unemployed graduates, school dropouts and at-risk youths on valuable and income-earning skills including cake baking and decoration, make up artistry, bead making, tailoring, catering, arts and crafts, hairdressing/barbing, event venue decoration and ICT.

Participants will be provided with the necessary tools at the end of the program, in line with the training they received, to help them start their own small businesses.

Unemployment particularly among youths is fast becoming a time bomb in Nigeria. Also many widows in Africa face not only emotional distress but most times, financial insecurity when they lose their husbands. These women are abandoned to their own fate and left to cater for their children although they cannot boast of a source of income. The militant group, Boko Haram, has rendered many women particularly in Northern Nigeria, widows. It is time to save these women from a life of despair.

Project SAVE is a campaign which is inspired to help lift every disadvantaged woman out of poverty so that they can take hold of equal opportunities, break from cultural and social constraints that may be holding them back, and become drivers of poverty reduction.

Please join us as we restore hope to the hopeless and give underserved women and youths, the opportunity to secure a brighter and less burdensome future.

The Program will insist on deliberately  targeting 75% women within its beneficiaries because we strongly believe in the saying, ''Empower A Woman, Empower A Nation.''

The start date for the program is October 2nd 2015. It will take place in Lagos State and Abuja.

We hope to touch more than 1,000 lives either directly or indirectly at the end of the program.

We humbly ask for your support in cash donations or in kind to make this program not only a reality but a huge success.

Kindly send your cash donations to:
Save Our Needy Organisation
Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank)
0168556004

Donations in kind should please be in form of materials needed for the implementation of the project.
Drop off location is:
Ikeja Plaza, near Ikeja bridge, Ikeja General Hospital

Your contribution(s) will be duly acknowledged on all our social media pages unless you wish to remain anonymous.

If you wish to partner with us on this project or any of our projects, please send an email to: saveourneedy@gmail.com OR call +2349025600734, +2348151546111. We look forward to hearing from you.

Please visit our website to see a more comprehensive list of our work and the lives we have touched so far: www.saveourneedy.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/SaveOurNeedy
Twitter: @SaveOurNeedy

THANK YOU and God BLESS you abundantly.

The Shoprite Community Network Partners Save Our Needy

Save Our Needy is now a partner of the Shoprite Community Network (SCN) in Nigeria.

Since 1979, Shoprite has grown rapidly within the South African market. It remains the biggest brand of the Shoprite Group of Companies and has become one of South Africa's most trusted brands, being voted SA's No.1 Supermarket in the annual Sunday Times Top Brands Survey every year since 2006.

Shoprite is a reputable and trusted brand present all over Nigeria.

Save Our Needy will be partnering with the Shoprite Community Network on the ''Better Life Through Education'' project which aims at promoting early childhood development, encouraging basic education amongst disadvantaged children and creating a conducive environment for learning.

During the course of the project, desks and chairs for pupils, whiteboards, cupboards and other learning equipment will be provided for disadvantaged children attending low-income (public) nursery and primary schools. Renovation and rehabilitation of dilapidated classrooms and schools will also be undertaken.

This is the first of many projects both organizations will be implementing as partners.

Nigeria Media Lauds The Initiative, One Child, One Schoolbag

The ''One Child, One Schoolbag'' project successfully launched in Nigeria to commemorate Children's Day in 2015, has been lauded by a host of Nigerian dailies including Vanguard and  Punch.                                                                                                                                              

The project aimed at promoting education amongst disadvantaged children and encouraging girl-child enrolment, has come and gone, but it remains indelible in the minds of everyone particularly the beneficiaries. 500 disadvantaged children attending low-income (public) nursery and primary schools in Lagos State were given free schoolbags and writing materials.

In 2013, Save Our Needy made front page news in a National daily in Benin Republic for its contribution to development through poverty alleviation programmes. The Save Our Needy team was applauded by the Benin media for reaching out to disadvantaged children in the most remote areas of Cotonou and Calavi to donate schoolbags to them under the ''One Child, One Schoolbag'' project.

 

Since 2011 when it was launched in Benin Republic, the ''One Child, One Schoolbag'' project has benefited no less than 1,500 disadvantaged children particularly girls. More than 5,000 lives have been touched so far.

One Child, One Schoolbag Project Comes To Nigeria

Support and encourage girl-child school enrolment

One Child, One Schoolbag project launched in Nigeria! 500 disadvantaged children reached; more than 1000 lives touched already. We hope to reach out to 500 more disadvantaged children before the end of the year. The project was initially launched by Save Our Needy in Benin Republic in 2011.

The banner used for the project

Children from St Michael's Nursery and Primary Schools 1 & 2, and Alaworo Nursery and Primary School, Ojo-Okokomaiko,  were full of smiles and gratitude as they received the donated items comprising schoolbags and writing materials. Some of the beneficiaries were selected randomly via an online forum (Stella Dimoko Korkus blog).

 Before and after pics of some of the disadvantaged children

We sincerely thank the Lagos State Education Board, Stella Dimoko Korkus of SDK blog, Bellanaija and Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi (Editor-In-Chief and Founder, The Intellectual Magazine) for their support and encouragement. Our profound gratitude also goes to our partners: Verdant Zeal,  Madrew's. A big thank you to all the generous and well-meaning individuals including REGMAC International Co. Nig. Ltd who donated to make this project a huge success. May God replenish your pockets in a billion fold.

Join us to promote education amongst disadvantaged children. Support school enrollment of the girl-child.

If you wish to support the "One Child, One Schoolbag" project or any of our other life-changing projects, please do send your cash donations to:

Save Our Needy Organisation

Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank)

0168556004

OR

Donate in kind. Send your enquiries to: saveourneedy@gmail.com

THANK YOU and God bless you.

To know more about our activities, visit our website: www.saveourneedy.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/SaveOurNeedy

Twitter: @SaveOurNeedy

''One Child, One Schoolbag'' project as reported by SDK blog (Nigeria's best overall blog): Click here

Everyone looking happy and satisfied with the day's activities

Marvella Odili (CEO, Save Our Needy), presenting a schoolbag to a beneficiary

Volunteers and Parents of beneficiaries posing with their children

Beneficiaries showing off their new schoolbags

Beneficiaries being called out by a teacher

Potential beneficiaries looking expectantly at their teacher

Jerry Odili, Programme Manager at Save Our Needy, posing with a widower and his kids who benefited from the project

Excited pupils

Potential future leaders of Nigeria proudly displaying their new schoolbags

SON Volunteer, Marian Onu, with a beneficiary

Representative of Lagos State Education Board presenting a schoolbag to a beneficiary

A happy girl receiving her schoolbag

Pupils of St Michael's Nur/Pri School waiting expectantly for their schoolbags

Marvella Odili with pupils of Alaworo Nur/Pri School