No fewer than 1,500 Abuja residents smiled home with food items, clothes, shoes, and other household supplies on Sunday, at an outreach organised in Garki, weeks to the Yuletide.
The beneficiaries received the items at the Tabitha Tent, an annual outreach of the Everlasting Arms Parish, Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Garki, Abuja.
Some of them, who spoke about n the experience, described the gesture as a lifeline which was timely.
Miss Fatima Adamu, who left the venue with rice, beans, and garri, said she felt relieved and uplifted.
According to her, the support could not have come at a better time.
“I feel very happy, thank you to the organisers, I really appreciate this,” she said.
Another beneficiary, Mr Marcus Danjuma, said the food supplies would sustain him for weeks.
“I got food, I am very happy for what God has done for me.
“This food will sustain me for a while and I really appreciate what God did for me,” he said.
He prayed that God would open more doors for the organisers, to be able to do more.
Also, Miss Kadijat Badamasi, who attended the event with her mother, said the programme brought hope to her family.
“I got rice, beans, garri and clothes, and we really appreciate,” she said.
Addressing newsmen on the sideline of the event , Pastor Paul Haruna said that the Tabitha Tent is a programme through which the church extends fellowship to vulnerable persons, irrespective of tribe, region or creed.
“We provide food, clothing, bags, furniture, and over the years God has been helping us.
“We are trusting God we will do more next time.
“As we can see, the hunger in the land is much and the best we can do is to reach out to the needy, and in our own very little way, as a church, we are giving this token to the less privileged.
“We have over 1500 people seated, God has helped us to give food; rice, beans, garri, and clothes, and we are grateful to God for the opportunity.
“We want to appeal to government to come to the aid of vulnerable people in form of food, shelter and clothing so that everyone can have to eat this season.
“As we do so, may God bless every arm of government in Jesus name,” he said.
Also speaking, Assistant Pastor Ngozi Azodoh said that the programme was designed to enable vulnerable persons “shop without money.”
“We call it shopping without money. It is at the heart of the service of the church to the people; what we do is to celebrate Jesus with our community.
“As you can see, we have over 1500 persons here and we have provided for them.
“Everyone is happy, it is an opportunity for us to minister to them physically and spiritually and we are hoping that in living the life of Jesus Christ, and sharing with them, they will come and see the love and goodness of Christ.
“There is certainly hunger in the land, we started Tabitha before the current hunger, we have been running it for almost 20 years,” she said.
She said that the government could also do more in supporting people, with the hardship in the land.
The cleric, however, commended the government efforts through the Renewed Hope Support Initiative.
“I nominated two people for the Renewed Hope Support Initiative for the less-privileged people and they actually got N200,000 each and we are grateful to the government for that,” she said.
The Coordinator of the programme, Mrs Modupe Ogundimu, said that the initiative had been running in the past 20 years with support from individuals and groups.
“We just want to say thank you to God and to everyone who has supported this initiative, and we pray God to bless them with joy, peace and love in the new year,” she said.
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