NGO donates N36.7m to charity organisations

Worship for Change, a not-for-profit organisation, donated N36.75m to six charity organisations that care for orphans and children with special needs.

Worship for Change founder, Wale Adenuga, on Tuesday in Lagos noted during the presentation of cheques that the not-for-profit raised N6.125m to each beneficiary from the Green Worship 7 Benefit Concert held in 2024 and the subsequent ‘21 Days of Giving’ initiative.

“Our mission is to raise awareness and funding for charities that care for orphans and children with special needs across Nigeria. 6.125 million Naira to six different charities,” Adenuga said. “We had a benefit concert (for this cheque presentation) on October 1st 2024.”

The six charities that received the donations were Bethesda School for the Blind in Lagos, Gilead Initiatives in Ikorodu, Flora’s Trust Foundation in Lagos, Jesus Orphanage in Port Harcourt, Gold Gate Rural Mission in Adamawa and Agbedare Jesus Care Foundation in Ibadan.

Adenuga explained that the organisations select beneficiary organisations from across the country by receiving applications, recommendations, or making direct enquiries.

He stated, “When planning that concert, we identified the different charities that would be beneficiaries. We make inquiries. We have a nomination form that we put out on our website. Maybe one or two of them came that way. But most times, a lot of them have come via recommendation; they are recommended by people who know that they do a great job and we go and verify that.”

“We try to see how we can get people across the country. So we have (beneficiaries from States like) Adamawa, Port Harcourt, and about two or three of them from Lagos.

According to the Adenuga, the beneficiaries are to sign agreements pledging to spend the money only on projects that the children in their charities use with an identifiable project in the next two months.

“For instance, let’s take the Bethesda School of the Blind. They said they are buying Braille materials. So there has to be something tangible. They’re not using it to pay allowances or salaries. There has to be something tangible.

“The Agbedare woman talked about renting another facility. All of that has to be done within the next two months. And we’ll go and cover that. Take photographs, do video coverage so we can make our reports and share on social media so when we’re about to work towards the next concert, which is happening later in the year, we can always say, ‘look, this is how much we raised and this is what (we used it for).’”

Adenuga emphasised that the Worship for Change organisation will begin the nomination process for the next charities in about two to three months. He also added that since inception, Worship for Change has given N160m in donations.

The beneficiaries expressed gratitude to the organisation, sharing their stories and pledging to put the money to good use.

Co-founder of Jesus Orphanage, Port Harcourt, Pastor Mighty Frank who represented his wife and founder of the orphanage, Pastor Finegirl Jesus-Mighty, thanked Adenuga and pledged to use the money to start a building project for the orphanage.

“With this support, we are going to start something on that plot. I appreciate Pastor Wale and the Green Worship Team for this great support. In fact, this means a lot to us,” Frank declared.

Another beneficiary, the Founder of Gold Gate Rural Mission, Pastor James Tumba, pledged to use the donation money he received to renovate the orphanage’s facilities and pay the outstanding school fees of the children under his organisation.

Tumba said, “On behalf of the members of the Board of Trustees, staff, and orphan children of Gold (Gate) Missions, I wish to say a sincere thank you to the members of the Board of Trustees, Wale Adenuga, (and) all the members of staff for this great touch, for this great support.

“We trust God to renovate the place (housing the orphaned children) and give them a better place to stay. We also have a burden (regarding) their school fees. Because we put them in private school, their school fees have been a burden on my heart and God has shown forth. I want to say a big thank you.”