By Peter Okutu

ABAKALIKI—NO fewer than 27 women including widows, weekend, benefitted from the welfare largesse distributed by the founder and owner of Great Mind Academy, GMA, in the state, Lady Franca Egwu.

The exercise which has been a common practice by the institution since its establishment seven years ago, brought together women from different parts of the state to benefit from the kind gesture of a philanthropist and educationist in the state.

The founder and beneficiaries

The women were given bags of rice, wrappers, bathing soap, Maggi seasoning and toilet tissues, as well as an undisclosed amount of cash gift.

Speaking during the exercise at the headquarters of GMA, Abakaliki, Lady Egwu noted that the exercise of giving out welfare packages to widows was as old as the school, adding that the women were drawn from Afikpo, Abakaliki among other areas in the state.

Giving a breakdown of the format for distribution, Egwu observed that 20 were widows drawn from the villages, three from the school while four others were not widows but received the welfare packages because of their contribution to the sustainability of the institution.

Egwu who encouraged well meaning Nigerians to embark on similar gestures stressed that wealth or material acquisition was not meant to be stored up but distributed to meet the needs of the less privileged in society.

According to her, the institution had equally given scholarships to about 40 children that have lost their parents even as she harped on the need for the economic empowerment of the downtrodden at all levels so as to make the world a better place.

In a chat with South East Voice, the women who were visibly elated by the gesture thanked the founder of GMA for giving them cause  to smile despite the current economic recession facing the  country. They asked God to bless the institution and open more doors for the economic prosperity of the institution.