A charity organization based in the United States, Kedrick Scribner Foundation has put smiles in the faces of more than 80 widows of Nigeria police officers that have been killed on duty.
The event, which took place at the United Church of Christ in Nigeria at the Mounted Troops Police Barracks, Ikeja in Lagos, had widows of the fallen heroes gracing the occasion alongside their children.
The gesture, under the organisation’s flagged-off edition of its Widow’s Mite 3.0 programme was in display of compassion and commitment towards the surviving families of Fallen Heroes of the Nigeria Police Force
The Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation, Kedrick Scribner, said the beneficiaries were carefully selected from different barracks within the Lagos metropolis, which includes the following: Mounted Troops Police Barracks, Ikeja, Police Barracks, Obalende, Mopol 20 Police Barracks, Ikeja, Mopol 22, Police Barracks, Alapere, Police Barracks, Idimu and Highway Police Barracks, Ikeja.
Building on the successes of the previous edition of the Widow’s Mite 1.0 and 2.0, Scribner said the third edition solidifies the foundation’s commitment to supporting the underprivileged.
He said third edition of the Widow’s Mite 3.0 witnessed the inauguration of the Kedrick Scribner Vocational Center, a testament to the Foundation’s dedication to widows’ empowerment in Nigeria.
The Center, according to him, promises to offer sewing vocational training and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for the widows and their children.
He said, “A six-month certificate course in sewing, covering pattern cutting, dressmaking, and traditional wears making will be featured in the Vocational Training centre. Trained widows will have access to sewing machines to support their families by crafting clothing for sale. Additionally, a three-month computer application course will be offered, covering beginner basic computer training to advanced-level skills”, he said.
Scribner who is a Minister of the Gospel and in Law Enforcement in the United States, while expressing delight over the success of the event shared his motivation for supporting families of the falling heroes in Nigeria:
“I grew up in a home, with four siblings. My mother was a single parent, we lived in the projects in Baltimore city, which is one of the most dangerous projects in Baltimore city called ‘Murphy Home ‘. My mother worked for Social Security Administration for 50 years, and that is where I got my work ethic from.
“So growing up, we were poor, but my mother maintained a good home as where there is food on the table, clothes on our backs and made sure that we went to school. This is what has engrained in me to help those that are not as fortunate as myself, because I understand the plight of being poor and I understand what it is like to not be able to have very much and to have your mother go out and slave, just so she could provide something on the table for her children.”