Yuletide: Diaspora Foundation Fetes Rural Poor, Widows In Akwa Ibom LG

Amid growing economic hardship and rising inflation making essential goods barely affordable for the very poor, a United States (US) -based philanthropic organisation, Think Humanity Initiative (THI), has raised the hope for hundreds of poor households in Ibiono Ibom local government area of Akwa Ibom State for joyful Christmas.

The chairman of The Hightower Foundation (HTF), Dr Marshall Umoren, at the weekend, in the spirit of the season, brought succour to the poor and elderly residents of Ibiono Ibom LGA, who had expected a bleak Christmas, blessing them with food handouts and cash.

At the ceremony held at Oko—Ita, the LGA’s headquarters, Umoren, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), told the beneficiaries drawn from the 11 wards of the council that the gesture was in the spirit of the Yuletide season, reflecting goodwill, godly love, and kindness to mankind, devoid of any political party sentiment.

He assured that the humanitarian exercise funded by the foundation, which targeted only vulnerable families, especially widows and very elderly women, would be a sustainable life-touching scheme.

Items distributed included bags of rice, spices, vegetable oil, canned tomatoes and noodles among other palliatives package.

Described as an unusual act of benevolence to have ever been witnessed in the area from any single individual outside the political sphere, the chapter chairman of APC in the area, Elder Umo Ekop, applauded what he described as “a rare humanitarian gesture.”

“We are grateful for this selfless magnanimity of Dr. Umoren, to have made such life-touching initiative to be possible in this season of love, especially for those who had no hope to celebrate the season due to the current biting economic realities in the country,” he noted.

However, Dr. Umoren, a US-based medical professional, said he was deeply touched by the appalling levels of poverty noticeable in his communities and extended the gesture “as a means to providing a tangible succor to the elderly, widows, and the very poor.”

“Service to the less privileged is the most noble and uplifting of all services to society,” Dr. Umoren noted, adding that his charity was “selfless, non-partisan and is undertaken as a pure and unalloyed gesture to serving humanity.”