The first edition of the Ibidunni Ighodalo Foundation (IIF) baby shower charity tagged “Baby’s Day Out” held at the Open Field of the Millennium Housing Estate (Tinubu Estate), Ibeshe-Ikorodu, Lagos was a memorable live touching event.
Earlier, the charity organisation led by Mrs. Ibidunni Ighodalo, CEO, Elizabeth R, a top-notch events planning company and wife of Ituah Ighodalo, accountant and Senior Pastor of Trinity House had announced that the event was for pregnant women and children between one day and one year old, but it was forced to observe the restriction more in the breach – elderly women, teenagers and single ladies showed up in their thousands to benefit from the IIF largesse.
Though, there was a captive population in the estate, a teeming number of people joined them from nearby and far-flung neighbourhoods around Ikorodu and beyond.
The gift items from IIF were in different categories. Pregnant women were given clothes, baby bath set, raw food items and a bag filled with baby toiletries. Though, some mothers tried to shave some months off their grown babies, officials of IIF insisted on giving the baby clothes to the right recipient. For the baby cot bed, pregnant women took to the floor to dance to music from DJ Shexy in order to decide who will take it home. The elderly women smiled home with one live chicken and food items.
Perhaps, the luckiest of the women was Mrs. Jennifer Ojukwu who was vising her sister in the estate. As a pregnant woman, she was not only gifted with items for her unborn baby and herself, her four children also went home with gifts.
According to an IIF spokesperson, the organization was growing fast and was beginning to accommodate responsibilities that were not part of its original obligation. “We set out to help couples who were challenged with conception. It was a simple obedience to God. When you walk with God, you do not know where He is taking you. You just follow Him in complete trust and surrender. God is opening new horizons. Everything is related. When couples conceive, the next thing is a baby. The expansion of our mission is within rational progression.”
On New Year day, the IIF team led by Ibidunni and her husband, Pastor Ituah visited five hospitals within Lagos including Island Maternity, Lagos, Ajeromi General Hospital, Ajegunle, Mother and Child Hospital, Amuwo Odofin, General Hospital, Mushin and Gbagada General Hospital, Gbagada. At every facility, they distributed gifts to the babies born on New Year day and their mothers. They also paid bills for indigent patients.