Independence: Federal Establishments Heads gift foodstuffs, cash to Enugu therapeutic home

Independence: Federal Establishments Heads gift foodstuffs, cash to Enugu therapeutic home

The Association of Heads of Federal Establishments (AHFE), Enugu State Chapter, on Saturday donated food items to the City of Refuge Rehabilitation/Therapeutic home in the state to mark Nigeria’s 63rd Independence anniversary.

The association led by its Chairman, Mr Emeka Nwokolo, said that the gesture was to show love and care to the less privileged persons in the spirit of the country’s Independence.

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The charity home formerly known as the Mother Louisa Charity Home, in Udi-Siding Enugu, is a home for the physically and mentally challenged persons including children.

Some of the items presented to the home included 50kg bag of rice, cartons of detergents, adult and children diapers, 20 tubers of yam, cartons of biscuits and cash.

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According to Nwokolo, the AHFE, who are heads of various federal establishments, recognised the need to give out to the charity home, to give them a sense of belonging in the society.

“As an association, we will continue to engage in this type of charity visit to different charity homes in the state, at least three times in a year and this is our second time of being here,” he said.

Nwokolo however, called on well-meaning Nigerians, corporate bodies and governments, to make out time to visit and support the special persons homes in the country especially in the current hard economic situation.

“In spite of the financial challenges in the country, we are able to donate from the little we have and I encourage Nigerians to do same because, they are our brothers and sisters,” he said.

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Responding, the founder of the home, Mrs Louisa Ekwe, commended the AHFE for remembering them.

Ekwe, who said that taking care of the less privileged persons was a call from God, noted that the charity home, had 87 physically and mentally challenged persons, abandoned at various places in Enugu and other states.

“So many of them were abandoned children at open places like Holy Ghost Cathedral, Central Police Station (CPS) all in Enugu and the Federal Medical Centre in Umuahia.

“We gather them here and take care of them,” Ekwe said.

She listed accommodation and feeding as major challenges facing the home.

According to her, the present home is not suitable to keep the children, stressing that they are looking for a permanent site.

“We feed them from gifts from good hearted Nigerians who always come here to show them love and support,” she said.

She appealed to governments, corporate bodies and public spirited Nigerians to support the home.

“They are our brothers and sisters and I alone, cannot carry the burden,” she said.

The chairman was accompanied to the visit by some heads of federal agencies including the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Code of Conduct Bureau, NDLEA, NNRA.

Others were the Representatives of the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu and the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH).

NAN