The Queen of Apomuland, Janet Afolabi has launched a food bank in the Osun State community.
At the ceremony of the Olori Janet Afolabi Foundation Food Bank on Tuesday, 150 bags of 50kg rice to Apomu people, irrespective of gender, religion and political affiliation, ahead of the Eid-el-Kabir celebrations.
According to the Queen, the food bank came out of her initial disappointment in intervening in the people’s situation.
In a post on her Facebook page, she explained: ‘I have always had an unexplainable desire to be kind to the poor. Since l was young, the sight of the vulnerable, the poor and hungry people stimulated compassion in me in a manner that l can’t describe with words. I feel it in my heart.
‘Recently, I felt that way when l saw the faces of our women who came back from a food palliative programme that was not worth the trouble. A friend asked me to invite 50 of them.
‘I raised my concern about the cost of transportation and distance to the town where the event took place. She assured me that the food stuff will outweigh the cost of transportation and time commitment.
‘It turned out to be the opposite. The programme was more trouble than its worth. I was disappointed. The women too were disappointed. They wished the money l gave them for transport was used to buy foodstuff in Apomu.
‘I felt so sorry for them, especially those who went with their babies and queued up in the sun for long hours only to return with a cup of rice.
‘That day, l took a decision to make it up for these women and others in their category, by establishing a food bank for indigent families. God saw the genuineness of my intention and granted my heart desire.
‘Yesterday (Tuesday), the food bank was launched in the palace.
‘I shared 150 bags of 50kg rice to Apomu people, irrespective of gender, religion and political affiliation.
‘The rice distribution was not just to fill stomachs but to fill hearts with joy and faces with smiles’.
Founded in October 2020, the Olori Janet Afolabi Foundation has been impacting positively in the lives of people of Apomu, headquarters of Isokan Local Government Area.