No fewer than 100 widows and vulnerable women drawn from communities in Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom received relief materials from Netherlands based NGO.
Speaking to newsmen after the donation in Ikot Ekpene on Monday, Mr John Akpanson, the President, Akwa Ibom\Cross River States Association, Netherlands (AKCROSS) UNION NL, said the members were deeply touched with the plight of the women due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Akpanson, who was represented by Miss Anne Edet said the union aimed at supporting and empowering their people in Netherlands, Akwa Ibom and Cross River states.
“We thought we should contribute our quota to support the most vulnerable people in our communities by providing relief materials to this group of people.
“The programme will benefit 100 indigent families in Ikot Ekpene and Abak local government areas. We do this, knowing that some of our people’s livelihood has been negatively affected by the pandemic.
“We hope that our support can help make it a little easier for them,’’ he said.
Akpanson commended its partners particularly the Hague’s Rotary Club, Netherlands for showing so much love to people far away from them and also thanked the Rotary Club in Ikot Ekpene and Abak LGA for the partnership.
He said that the partnership had helped to ensure that the palliatives went to the target audience which was the vulnerable persons in the society and the widows.
Akpanson said that the event was the third in the series by the NGO to the Akwa Ibom people since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He called on other well-meaning individuals and organisations to continue to support the less fortunate people in the society in the present trying times.
The representative of the Rotary Club of Ikot Ekpene, Ikot Ekpene Metro District 9142, GRA Province, Mr Ubong Obot, commended AKCROSS Association in Netherlands and the Rotary Club of Hague, Netherlands for the gesture.
He assured them of their continued partnership to ensure that they strived to make life meaningful to those set of individuals in the state.
In their separate responses, Madam Sifon Mathew and Nsinyene Lucky commended the donors for their show of love and remembering them in these trying times.
According to them, as widows, the kind gesture from the NGO will go a long way in helping them and they prayed that God should bless and reward them abundantly.
They called on other privileged indigenes of the state living in the within and outside the country to emulate the kind gesture of AKCROSS.
Items distributed to the widows and vulnerable people included rice, beans, garri, noodle, facemasks among others.