By Christian Agadibe
A US-based non-profit organisation, Liberty Family Foundation (LFF), has donated $31,700 USD to The Candlelight Foundation to secure a 5-year lease on a property in Surulere area of Lagos State.
The property is meant for The Candlelight Foundation’s soup kitchen where thousands of meals are provided to the hungry in the community for free. The LFF is a private family NGO founded in the US. The foundation believes in giving back to communities locally, nationally, and throughout the world.
The founder, business entrepreneur and technology mogul, Michael Liberty made the generous contribution through the LFF in honour of his late mother, Mary “Mae” McCarthy Liberty. He described Mae, as she was fondly called, as a generous and cheerful soul who always helped those in need.
According to Mr. Liberty, the mission of the LFF is to help those in need and inspire other civic leaders and individuals to do the same, thereby, improving the quality of life for all.
A multi-faceted entrepreneur, Mr. Liberty has seen much success in real estate, textile, retail, and technology over the course of three decades. Most recently, Mr. Liberty has set his focus on launching Virtual Banking Network (VBN) in Nigeria, a cloud-based enterprise software network for depositories. It has been during this pre-launch time period where Mr. Liberty came across the humanitarian need in Nigeria. He reacted swiftly to see how he could help.
The Candlelight says the donation came in handy, as it is certain this would afford them an opportunity to expand their Street Kids-to-School programme by providing a safe location to house and support the kids in their scholarship programme.
In response to the donation, The Candlelight Foundation says it would name the soup kitchen “Mae’s Kitchen” in honour of Mr. Liberty’s mother’s legacy. As noted in a statement by the Executive Director of the Candlelight Foundation, Uzoamaka Okeke, “this is coming at the perfect time as we unfortunately see a growing number of people in need of our service in the community. We The Candlelight family want to appreciate and recognise the Liberty Family Foundation for this generous donation. It will go a long way in helping us with our existing work as well as expanding our Street Kids-to-School programme and other programmes being developed.”
While she expressed profound gratitude to the donor, Ms. Okeke outlined that the new location is currently undergoing repairs and will be open to the public this April.