Foundation for street children begins search for 1,000 helping hands

The Destiny Trust — a social intervention focusing on the care, education, rehabilitation and empowerment of homeless children — is calling on people and businesses to support its work with children through a crowdfunding campaign tagged ‘1000HelpingHands’.

The 1000HelpingHands Campaign is to enlist 1000 people who have a heart for less-privileged children to give N1,000 monthly for the next one year to assist the Trust to continue its work with children.

At the Destiny Trust, children who are either orphaned or are homeless and without any responsible guardian are admitted into a programme, which provides shelter, daily feeding, healthcare, education and all the basic needs.

At least 16 children per time receive this kind of support at the Trust’s residential learning and rehabilitation centre, located at Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos.

The Trust provides more than 1,800 meals monthly to resident children and other at-risk children who come in from its host community.

In addition to providing care to homeless children, the Trust runs an expansive education programme, which caters to other poor children who cannot be accommodated at the Trust’s shelter but nonetheless require educational support. This involves preparing out-of-school children for schooling, school enrolment, afterschool assistance and back-to-school support.

The initial campaign in August 2014 raised N627, 000, benefitting 100 children through supply of uniform and school kits.

“We believe that ordinary people giving the little they can afford can make a major social impact,” Bukky Shaba, campaign manager for the HelpingHands project, said.

“We can be the people that will halt the trend of child illiteracy, poverty and abuse. We have the chance to create a new future for some children who would become a menace to the society if we don’t act.

“It will be our joy to do this even in uncertain economic times because that is when they need will need us even more.”

The proceeds of the crowdfunding is intended for the Trust’s spending over a one-year period to provide more than 21,600 meals, health care, rent of the shelter for street children, enrolment/back-to-school support to 1000 children and support to at least one under-resourced schools attended by children in target communities.

“We invite people to join us to sign up and spread the cause as we build a community of people making a big difference with little,” Shaba added.

“Donations are received through a safe and convenient online payment platform following the link https://paystack.com/pay/destinytrust or by direct transfer or cash payment the Trust’s account: The Destiny Trust Projects, GT Bank Plc, 0209963873.”

Committed to providing care, education, empowerment and the development needs of children and households within vulnerable groups, The Destiny Trust is a foundation motivated by “the ultimate possibility to transform the life of one child who would be a risk to the society if we do not take this action”.

It formally commenced its activities on August 11, 2012 with an initiative tagged ‘Kuramo Intervention Project’ — a specific intervention targeted at providing education, healthcare, food, shelter and guidance to homeless children at Kuramo Beach and Bar Beach.