ChetachiEcton,theCEO&FounderonHerMissionfortheWhenInNeedFoundation
Original Post By Judith Davis
Meeting an outstanding leader is a definitely pleasure. Also, while listening to and learning what makes someone exceptional is another thing. Chetachi Ecton is indeed an individual determined to do her part in changing the world as much as possible through her work with the When In Need Foundation.
The When In Need Foundation is a 501c3 nonprofit organization created by a single mom named Chetachi Ecton. As a Nigerian immigrant to the U.S., Ecton knew first-hand what it means to be in need. After finding success through entrepreneurship, Ecton would often see devastating need as she traveled around the world.
Ecton started When In Need Foundation to show people the difference one person can make. In fact, the name of the foundation was a suggestion from her daughter. Echton says to people wanting to know about to the foundation “To come and volunteer so they can see the work the foundation is doing.” She also goes onto say “It is important to reach out to the children. There are have been a few students we have sponsored with scholarships.”
With When In Need Foundation, Ecton has successfully completed several projects in dozens of countries around the world through the nonprofit’s Mission of Mercy outreach program. Mission of Mercy includes: medical missions, agricultural farming, water projects, and shoe projects.
In the U.S., When In Need Foundation does various community outreach initiatives in the Philadelphia and New York City areas. It also provides scholarships to young people in need who are entering post-secondary education. Ecton has funded the foundation through her own investment and fundraising efforts, along with a small team of volunteers.
Before their departure on Nov 15, 2016 the mission received media coverage from NY1 News and NBC Philadelphia. As a result, more than 5000 people treated onsite for common illnesses such as: malaria diarrhea, deworming, high blood pressure, and diabetes, 11 hospitalized for severe illness and hospital bills paid by WIN Foundation and 2,723 pairs of eye glasses have been distributed.
When In Need Foundation already has its next mission planned for first quarter 2017.
For the upcoming mission, here is a link to the needed items. As well, here is the link to her website and a link to where donations can be made. Stay in touch with the activities and updates of the foundation via social on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Google Plus.
Nigeria has found its Queen and her name is Dr. Chetachi Ecton
Original Post By Allen Ellison, The Public Relations Firm, Inc.
Chief Dr. Chetachi Nwoga Ecton from Mbaise, Imo State in Nigeria, is one of the most inspiring people in the world. Hers is a personal story that incredibly shifts from surviving a life of poverty and abuse to creating a humanitarian and philanthropic organization that is changing the lives of people that live on less than $1 a day around the world. Whether she is writing checks to sponsor thousands of boys and girls to go to school, assisting widows with funds to engage in subsistence farming in rural villages, funding high-level humanitarian medical delegations to Africa, or engaging the international community to pay attention to disadvantaged communities in Third World Countries, she remains a self-driven trailblazer who is always seeking opportunities for the betterment of the people in dire poverty.
Dr. Ecton migrated from Nigeria to the United States at the age of seventeen. Like most immigrants that come to the shores of America, she struggled to make ends meet but worked hard to put herself in school and earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Social Work from Widener University. She is a victim of an abusive marriage that she escaped and started raising her three children alone. Despite the crucible circumstances resulting from a brutal relationship, she persevered and held as many as four jobs at one time and still withstood the demanding and taxing responsibilities of single parenting, work and the pursuit of her education.
Inspired by the nexus between her own struggles and the variations of the social landscape she learned in college, Dr. Ecton assumed a social enterprise undertaking in the real estate market and staked an opportunity that helped her expand her entrepreneurial and humanitarian dispositions into broader contexts. Her first social work venture was a healthcare agency that provides services to the intellectually and developmentally disabled individuals. Dr. Ecton began to develop the mindset of striving for excellence in all facets of her life with an innate desire and unparalleled determination to provide quality services in the social services world, while lending a helping hand to other people and communities in need. She believes in going over and beyond the call of duty to make a positive difference in the world around her. This passion of service is what led to the founding of a humanitarian and philanthropic organization that helps the people in need; The When In Need Foundation.
Through the When In Need Foundation, Dr. Ecton has helped change the lives of over 550,000 people by donating funds for education, agriculture and healthcare in different communities in Nigeria. For example, in 2018, using her networks and relationships with private foundations and organizations of goodwill like the Order of Saint George, International Rotary Club, Corporate America and the International Community, Dr. Ecton mobilized an unprecedented effort of in-kind donations of medical supplies worth over $1 million to communities in Nigeria. She believes that if nonprofit organizations and other non-state actors are going to complement the World Leaders’ commitment of attaining the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, then we must all spare no resources to partner with other stakeholders in reaching the mark.
Dr. Ecton sustains the work of the When In Need Foundation by donating 98 percent of her income, and every other resource at her disposal, to facilitate all overheads in the United States and abroad. She is a resource to hundreds of thousands of people from around the world.
Should you be interested in supporting Dr. Ecton and the When In Need Foundation with its mission of making this world a better place, you are encouraged to get in touch with the team and join our humanitarian movement of helping the disadvantaged communities around the world. Please visit us at www.winfound.org and be a part of history and change
90,000 children are expected to die in Nigeria over the next 12 months, Unicef warns
Unless action is taken, 240 children will die everyday, the United Nations children’s agency says
By May Bulman @maybulman, www.independent.co.uk, Wednesday 25 January 2017 18:38 GMT
Tens of thousands of children are at risk of starving to death in Nigeria unless the world takes action, the United Nations children’s agency has warned.
Labelling it the world’s most under-funded humanitarian crisis, Unicef said the terrorist insurgency of Boko Haram has left 400,000 children severely malnourished and millions more in desperate need of humanitarian assistance after they fled their homes.
The agency warned that 90,000 children could die of Severe Acute Malnutrition in the coming year unless the international community takes swift action. That amounts to more than 240 child deaths each day.
Doune Porter, Unicef’s chief of communications in the west African nation, told The Independent that despite attempts to raise global awareness of the crisis in November, the number of children at risk of starving to death has increased further.
Forecasting a “tragedy” if the rest of the world continues to turn its back, she said: “Three months ago we estimated that over the year in the three states most effected by conflict – Borno Yobe and Adamawa — 400,000 would suffer from Severe Acute Malnutrition. This projection has now increased to 450,000.
“We continue to be hampered by a lack of funds and by access security in the region. There are a lot of children who we can’t reach because of insecurity and attacks in certain areas.
“If the situation continues where we can’t reach people or we do not have enough funding, we estimate that one in five of these children — 90,000 of them — are expected to die in the coming year.”
The conflict in North-eastern Nigeria has led 1.7 million people to flee their homes to live in other communities or refugee camps within Nigeria as well as neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon.
Unable now to generate an income to support their families, trade has been limited and food prices have escalated as a result.
Displaced people in the worst-affected areas of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa have been unable to farm and are now suffering from a severe food crisis.
In total, 15 million people have been affected, with seven million people in need of urgent life-saving assistance — more than half of them children.
“Acute malnutrition is an extremely dangerous condition for children. It’s clinging to life. It makes them nine times more likely to die from an ordinary illness such as pneumonia and diarrhea,” said Ms Porter. “In this crisis there are children starving to death. And we can’t reach these children if we don’t have the funding. So few people know about the depth of this crisis.
She added: “We’re scaling up the efforts. But this is a crisis that is so big that we really need the world to mobilise around the children of north-east Nigeria. If we don’t get the funding, then we cannot reach the children whose lives we could save. And that’s a tragedy.”
Mike Sunderland, Save the Children’s West and Central Africa’s media manager, has been working with malnourished children in Nigeria and warned that as well as the children being treated, there are thousands more that haven’t yet been reached.
Mr Sunderland told The Independent: “We’re seeing a lot of widespread malnutrition of children, children with missing parents. Around a million children have been moved from their homes. This is a widespread humanitarian crisis.
“Everyone you meet has got some sort of distressing story. Most of them their villages have been raided by insurgents, some of them may have lost homes or wives may have lost partners or lost parents.”
He added: “For many children, it might be the second or third time they’ve fought malnutrition, so their immune systems are already severely weakened by malnutrition. They’re entering a cycle of continuous illness and threat of death.
“These children are the lucky ones who have reached help. If that’s the case for them, we can only image the ones who are out of our reach.”
The crisis “is grossly under-funded,” he said, adding: “We need a humanitarian response that is well-funded, and that will allow people involved in this crisis to save as many children as possible.”
Boko Haram has been on a violent campaign since 2009 to impose their version of Islamic law in Africa’s most populous country, and has so far killed more than 20,000 people and forced an estimated 2.6 million from their homes.
The conflict has been characterised by systematic, widespread violation of children’s rights, with abductions and sexual abuse and the forced recruitment into militias commonplace.
As the Nigerian army continues its advance into insurgent strongholds in areas bordering Niger, Chad and Cameroon, many children have — as well suffering a shortage of food — witnessed atrocities first-hand, or have themselves been subject to attacks.
How we touched the lives of the needy in Nigeria
In this interview with Dr. Chetachi Nwoga-Ecton, Founder and CEO, and Dr. George Onuorah, Director of Media and Projects, of the When In Need (WIN) Foundation they explained the challenges and joy derived from seeing the smiles on the less-privileged in Nigeria during WIN’s April 2017 Mission of Mercy.
From April 27 – 29, 2017, the When In Need Foundation made a Mission of Mercy (MOM) to Ideato Imo state Nigeria. This particular medical mission was inspired by a letter received from a community in Ideato South in Imo State Nigeria. Ideato south has an estimated population of 550,000. Our investigation revealed that this community has been greatly deprived of accessible healthcare, general sustainable development, children’s education and women/youth empowerment. This deplorable state of healthcare has claimed the lives of many in this community.
The April mission was supported by a team of family physicians, ophthalmologists, pharmacists, nurses and several other public health professionals. During the mission, attended to over 6,000 adults and children. Free services were performed including physical and ophthalmic examinations; provision of education and treatments for multiple ailments including hypertension, diabetes, cholera, malaria and typhoid fever; provision of free reading and distance glasses for at least 4,500 people; and offered preventative health education to reduce the prevalence of communicable diseases.
Read this article to learn more about our Mission of Mercy.
How we touched the lives of the needy in Nigeria-WIN
Senator James Sanders, Jr. holds press conference in support of When in Need Foundation
Senator Sanders also viewed the visit as a time for personal growth and development regarding other cultures and felt warmly adopted by the Nigerian people. He was even given the title of chief by four kings there.
Senator Sanders was proud to work with the When In Need Foundation on the Nigerian mission. WIN provides grants for students and young professionals to continue their education. They support schools, orphanages and various hostels that assist the less fortunate. WIN also organizes health and education fairs.
At the upcoming press conference, Sanders will provide an informational update to community members in the 10th Senatorial District on the current state of Nigeria and what supplies and resources are needed there and how we collectively can provide support.
Senator Sanders hopes to encourage Americans and Nigerian-Americans to help the beautiful African Nation and would like to work with representatives from the Consulate General of Nigeria in New York to accomplish this goal.
If you would like to join the press conference:
Who: State Senator James Sanders Jr., When in Need Foundation
What: Press Conference on Mission to Nigeria
Where: St. Clement Pope Church (outside)
141-11 123rd Avenue, South Ozone Park, NY 11436
(onsite parking)
When: Friday, May 12, 2017, 10:00 a.m.
Why: To help the people of Nigeria and their family and friends living in the United States.