TheCable

Pistis Foundation, a non-profit and social enterprise vehicle of the Elevation Church, has awarded scholarships to children across 16 schools in Lagos, Oyo and Ogun states.

Godman Akinlabi, lead pastor of Elevation Church and chairman of Pistis Foundation, announced this at the fourth anniversary of the organisation at the weekend.

During the ceremony, the Pistis Foundation awardees received a donation of N25 million as well as other cash and gift prizes for their high performances in the 2021/2022 academic session.

While delivering his remark, Akinlabi said the foundation is committed to improving children’s development, including economically challenged people, through its initiatives.

“We are committed to wholesome society development and we recognise that the key is to start from the early stage of child development,” he said.

“Whilst at Pistis Foundation, we will continue to play our role to contribute to the development of children in the bid to see them achieve greatness; as we charge parents, who have the greater responsibility as parent leaders in the overall success of the child, not to abdicate their responsibilities.

“Since its inception in 2018, the Pistis Foundation has and continues to impact the lives of thousands of economically challenged people through its various strategic impact initiatives.

“Pistis Foundation provides scholarships to 110 students through its scholarship program; 103 teachers received professional training; 13,000 medical interventions have been carried out through its medical & surgical outreach “UBOMI”; “KOTS” (Kids of the Streets) homeless shelter currently houses 23 children; and 15,000 beneficiaries have been fed through its food bank program, just to mention a few.”

Ngozi Onyia, advisory member, board of trustees, Pistis Foundation; Leonard Thomas,
executive director, Pistis Foundation; Lolu Alade Akinyemi, vice chairman, Pistis Foundation; Pastor
Godman Akinlabi, founder, Pistis Foundation; Ogochukwu Belo-Osagie, member, board of
trustees, Pistis Foundation; Debo Omotunde, board member, Pistis Foundation; Abimbola
Ojenike, partner, Pistis Foundation; and Emeka Aaron, Zenera Consulting, media partner, Pistis
Foundation at the fourth Anniversary celebration of the Pistis Foundation on Saturday, October 15, 2022.

Expressing appreciation to the foundation, one of the parents of the scholarship beneficiary said selecting one of her three children for the award has eased her struggles with paying school fees.

“When one of my children got selected for the Pistis Foundation Scholarship it was like water to my thirsty soul,” she said.

“I have three children and one of the major challenges I faced was paying their school fees. But now I am less overwhelmed as one of them is now being catered for, and I can’t thank the Foundation enough.”

Also speaking, Leonard Thomas, executive director of Pistis Foundation, said the organisation intends to impact underserved children across Africa through its empowerment initiatives.

Thomas said selecting students from the south-west states has brought the foundation closer to its goal of reaching underserved people across Africa.

“For our fourth anniversary, we took the first step towards scaling and expanding our work by sponsoring children from two other South-West states outside of Lagos,” he said.

“This feat has brought us one step closer to the goal of empowering underserved children across Africa, as we make our annual Award-Tour to core partner schools.

The director added that the foundation is making efforts through collaboration with other organisations to scale up its education, shelter and health initiatives.

“Furthermore, in line with its 5-year strategic plan and overall goal to IMPACT and empower the economically challenged in Africa sustainably, efforts are being undertaken with a long-term approach by the Pistis Foundation to grow its education, health and shelter initiatives such as the official inauguration of PF Advisory board members, the setting up of the UBOMI Medical Centre Hospital and the Kids of the Street (KOTS) partnership programs, amongst many others,” he added.

“To ensure the success of the project, Pistis Foundation has partnered with several organisations, including Adler Technology, SAPRO, Zenera Consulting, Divine Children’s Place, Nifty Steps School, Loveland School, Godwin Wecoch School, and Pedrisi School, amongst others.”

The foundation was established in 2018 to create empowerment opportunities for economically challenged people in Nigeria through education, health and shelter.

In July 2022, the foundation embarked on a free medical and surgical outreach to 5,000 underserved people in the country.