By O’star Eze
The Anglican Diocese of Niger West, Saturday May 2, 2020, again remembered her needy by gifting them with food items ranging from bags of rice to cartons of noodles.
The reporter gathered that this was the second time the diocese was providing palliatives to cushion the harsh effects of economic crunch occasioned by Coronavirus induced lockdown in Anambra State and beyond on the vulnerable.
Handing out these items for distribution, the Bishop of the Diocese, Rt. Revd Johnson Ekwe, PhD., who had just concluded the diocesan first Saturday programme (Mount Zion) stated that the palliatives were the diocese’s second intervention to cushion the sufferings of those who have been severely affected by the hardship resulting from the pandemic.
He expressed his “most profound gratitude” to the many individuals, families, friends of the diocese and men of goodwill whose generous donations made the palliative intervention possible.
Bishop Ekwe also charged the archdeacons and priests in charge of special Churches, saddled with the responsibility of getting the items to the grass roots of their Archdeaconries and churches to express the highest level of diligence in ensuring that the palliatives got to the individuals and families that need them most.
Calling down special benedictions on the donors, the Diocesan prayed for God’s mercy to cleanse the world of “this ravaging monster” in no distant time.
According to Ven Emmanuel ik Onovo, the Diocesan Protocol/Publicity Officer, this gesture was “in line with the general injunction requiring Christians to care for the needy in their midst especially those who were badly affected by the ongoing lockdown put in place to contain the spread of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic.”