NYSC at 50: Kaduna secretariat donates food items, cash to an orphanage home

20th May 2023

Visiting NYSC staff and Corps members bonding with children at Potters Home, Kaduna, shortly after the donation at the weekend

From Sola Ojo, Kaduna

As a part of activities marking the 50th anniversary of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), officials of the scheme in its Kaduna State secretariat have willingly put their resources together to cushion the hardship of vulnerable children and widows at Potters Home Orphanage Kaduna.

Items donated include six cartons of super park noodles, three cartons of spaghetti, 20 packs of toothpaste, 24 bottles of Vaseline, two bags (50kg) of rice, one jerrican of groundnut oil, one jerrican of palm oil.

Others are two packs of tissue paper, six packets of cheese balls, two packs of detergent, one carton of seasoning, one carton of bar soap, one carton of biscuits and a cash of N100,000.

Leading the Staff serving members of the Scheme in the State to the orphanage home at the weekend, Kaduna State Coordinator, Mr. Hassan Mahmud Taura said the donation became necessary as it would put a smile on the faces of these children and you can how happy they are.

He said, "part of our activities for this 50th anniversary as a scheme is to visit a charity home. My sub-committee went round to carry out a need assessment of charity homes.

"Eventually we resolved to come here after a lot of considerations including the population of the vulnerable children and widows.

"So, we are moved to donate little to someone who does not have parents and is being taken care of by a person who is not the biological parent. All of us willingly come together to contribute without argument", he said.

Responding, Director, Potters Home, Mr. Franklin Young, who also served in Katsina State in 1990 thanked the NYSC staff in Kaduna for allowing themselves to be used by God to touch lives in orphanage homes.

"We are short of words. Even though we are hopeful, we never expected that God will come to us in this magnificent way. We pray God will not forget your kind labour.

"Incidentally, I served in Karofi, Katsina in 1990, and that was where the idea of catering for children came. Potters Home is meant to cater for the less privileged including widows and displaced children from Kaduna and neighbouring States.

"Because we are financially constrained, we built a school for these children here but we need more manpower to teach them. And we will appreciate it if NYSC can send some Corps members to come and serve here so they can motivate and encourage these children.

"No help is too small because needs in a place like this are insatiable. In the area of structure, we need help. Presently, we have 49 children in addition to widows and those that are offering us support", he said.