‘Jedidiah Foundation’ laid on principle of helping the needy

Our Reporter
Dimapur, June 12 (EMN): As Nagaland continues to fight coronavirus, many individuals and organisations have been coming forward to help the poor and the needy affected by the pandemic. With the state in lockdown, the poorer sections of the society are the most affected as they – mostly daily-wage earners -- are unable to earn their livelihood.

Jedidiah Foundation, a charity foundation which was launched on May 31, is one of the many organisations that are helping the community.

The chairman of the foundation, Avoni Odyuo, shared with Eastern Mirror that although the main emphasis of the foundation is on education; “our secondary focus is helping communities around us when crisis arises -- to feed the poor, the fatherless, the widow, as the Bible admonishes us to do, for this is true Christianity”.

She said that as a part of the launch of the foundation, they organised a grocery distribution programme, wherein 24 bags of rice (25 kg each), 60 kg of dal, 105.5 kg of potatoes and 21 sets of eggs were given to 27 families and two orphanages.

‘Most of these families we reached out to were affected by lockdown, had illness related to Covid and other sickness, and even lost loved ones due to Covid,’ she added.

She expressed hope that they can partner with more donors and churches so that they can do more grocery distributions.

‘Our board members enjoyed the distribution programme, and they are on the field toiling the hard ground functioning as drivers, carrying stuff and grassroots duty such as dividing the rations,’ she shared.

“This grocery distribution was something my church in Singapore used to do weekly during the pandemic in 2020, and so when I came back and started this charity, it was something I wanted to include in our activities.

“This is also another reason I am wishing desperately for our mega churches to step up their game, and perhaps do a grocery distribution once a month with their big budgets and if they lack manpower, we at Jedidiah Foundation are willing to do the groundwork if they provide the funds,” she added.

Speaking about the foundation, she shared that it was launched to provide financial assistance to students of Golden Crown Theological College, who deserve scholarship based on their ministry ethics and academic merit.

“Every year we receive tons of students who are in need of sponsorship and my family tries to support as many as we can or find family friends to partially sponsor the students. However, I find this informal transaction unsustainable, especially on the occasion that individual sponsors are not able to support the students that particular year,” she said.

She added that with the launch of the foundation, the hope is to have a steady flow of income to continue to provide beneficiaries for decades down the road.

Sharing about their future goals, she stated that they want to do their best in the goals they have set -- to raise funds for teacher’s salary where their target for this year is INR 1, 30, 000 (1.3 lakh); to raise funds for students’ education where their target is INR 2 lakh, and also to continue with the grocery distribution programme, and ‘be a blessing to our community’.

“There will definitely be more scope for growth in the years to come but for now we want to focus on these objectives and excel in it,” she maintained.

The board members of the foundation include Abigail Odyuo- Vice-Chairman, Mhathung Odyuo- Treasurer, Khristin Kimeri- Secretary, and Achumi Ngullie and Ajano Kikon as board members.

Speaking about their logo, she explained that “the two hands shaking signify ‘partnership’ because we cannot work alone. And with partnership from individuals, churches, and organisations we can spread love and shake mountains. The two hearts signify the hearts of the beneficiaries and the givers because, truly when you have experienced the joy of giving, it is addictive and fulfilling”.

‘What we are doing is so small but then it actually has a greater impact even if we do not see it now,’ she added.

Further, she updated that those willing to donate towards the foundation can contact +91-8415060849 or email avoniodyuo@yahoo.co.in.