By Damiete Braide
•Organisers of the event with friends and volunteers
Residents of Red Street in Jakande Estate, Isolo, Lagos State, experienced a heartwarming Easter party, thanks to the Tamilore Sadare Memorial Foundation (TSMF), a non-governmental organisation.
The NGO, dedicated to honouring the memory of Tamilore Sadare, organised a food donation outreach on April 1.
Amid music and festivities, TSMF’s volunteers distributed essential food items to 250 beneficiaries, aiming to make a meaningful impact in the community.
In his welcome address at the event, Kunle Sadare, speaking on behalf of the Sadare family, said: “Today is about remembering our daughter, Tamilore Sadare, who passed on on May 5, 2022 and we want to give back to the society in order to keep her legacy alive. She exuded a lot of kindness while she was with us and we want to continue to show that kindness to people around us. Today is about her and what she would have loved to do to people around her, her friends, family and strangers.
“Today is the second edition and it is tagged ‘A ginger to end hunger.’ It sounds like a big and lofty idea and it seems that we have started very small but we believe in the baby steps.
“We are gingered to end hunger around us and we have started with the small community and residents. Though some of the beneficiaries that benefited come from far and wide.”
Kunle Sadare disclosed that, for this second edition, they had 250 beneficiaries, “an improvement from the maiden edition on Boxing Day, December 26, 2023, where we had 120 beneficiaries.”
“The first edition took place on December 26, 2023, on Boxing Day, because we wanted to celebrate Christmas with the needy, who may not have had anything for Christmas. We prepared meals and distributed them but for this second edition, we felt that we could do more by giving people raw food that they could cook by themselves for a couple of days. The pack had rice, garri, spaghetti, tomato paste, seasoning, pepper and so on that they can use in cooking the meals.”
Speaking about the proposed third edition, Kunle stated: “As we are led, we will monitor the festive period or global celebration and we feel that there are people who can benefit from being celebrated as well. We want to celebrate them by providing whatever we are led to provide at that point in time and what our budget can cover.
“Being modest, for the first edition, we distributed prepared food for 120 people and spent over N400,000. This second edition, we spent close to N2 million and, by God’s grace, we hope that the third edition will be bigger and better than the second edition.
“We hope to get more support from public-spirited Nigerians, corporate organisations and it will be our greatest pleasure on the next edition to be able to feed 1,000 people.
“It may not be residents in this community alone, we can extend the love to other communities. For now, we are restricted to this community because our daughter lived here while she was alive. She grew up in this community and spent a large portion of her growing up years here, even though she was born in the United Kingdom and spent two years there before coming back to Nigeria. She passed on when she was 14 years old.
“Through her, we hope to touch the lives of people within her immediate environment. Our dreams are big and if we can feed up to 1,000 people in the third edition, we will really appreciate it. Giving back to society is what brings joy and happiness to us.
“My message to people in the community is that they should recognize and remember our daughter. They are beneficiaries because of her. We want them to remember her for good and the world will be a better place when we all do something good for the next man without expecting something in return. If we can move forward when we bless others and they in turn should bless others.”
One of the beneficiaries of the event, Daniel Amerhovwe, said: “I live in the estate and it is a wonderful thing for the foundation that, at this point in time, when things are difficult, they have remembered people by giving gift items. I pray that the Lord will replenish their pockets a thousand fold so that they will be able to do more for the community.”
Another beneficiary, Onyiyechi Idara, said: “I commend the foundation for putting smiles on our faces, and I am happy that they have done this. The cost of food items is high but they have given residents food items. I pray that God will bless them to do more.”
Similarly, Mrs. Taiyelolu Aina, a resident, prayed that “God will continue to bless them and they will be lifted up financially for this gesture that they have done to help us.”