Bee’s Food Drive is a small charity, operating as a non-profit organisation, that was founded in 2021. It has taken its first step towards becoming a registered charity by signing its constitution on the 30th of March 2023.
Bee’s Food Drive aims to reduce the negative effects of poverty, with a particular emphasis on alleviating hunger. It is committed to fighting food insecurity and hunger and works to feed and support vulnerable people in need in Nigeria.
The constitution gave allowance for a secondary “other” purpose such as helping vulnerable people in need in the UK.
Members and Trustees
The constitution for Bee’s Food Drive was signed by:
- Ms Rashidat Alao (Trust Treasurer)
- Mr Frank Mba (Trust Chairman)
- Mr Olumide Oni (Trust Secretary)
They automatically became the charity’s founding members and trustees. Supporters of the charity are eligible to become members and can stand in to be elected as trustees.
Fighting hunger one meal at a time
At Bee’s Food Drive, we buy and distribute food to those who cannot afford it. This way, we help provide them with the essential nutrition they need to survive.
That said, we provide more than just food — we offer emotional support with our community outreach programmes.
With your help, we can make a difference!
Period Care Packs for Homeless Women
Our plan for 2023, in addition to our main objective, is to provide Period Care packs for homeless women and those living in internally displaced camps. This way, we can help them stay healthy and hygienic during their monthly cycles.
What makes our Period Care packs unique is that instead of disposable sanitary pads, we hope to provide reusable period pants.
This is especially important because Nigeria does not have adequate public toilet facilities to help women safely and hygienically dispose of their used sanitary pads nor is there any privacy for women when they need to change. With reusable period pants, women can use them for up to 8 hours at a time.
Background
Bee’s Food Drive was started by Ms Rashidat Alao (founder, Shida Healthcare LTD) in December 2021.
Ms Alao had always wanted to play an active part in supporting people who are struggling financially. So, in December 2021, Ms Alao sent some money from the UK to Nigeria to help buy some food and for it to be shared with children in need.
One thing led to another and by December 2022, a few friends of Ms Alao were regularly pooling their money together to buy and distribute food once a month to vulnerable people in Nigeria.
Full transparency
Even though Ms Alao was working with her friends, she felt that it was important that there was full transparency on what the money received was used for.
This led to the creation of a WhatsApp group.
Every month, Ms Alao’s assistant gives the group members an account of how much was received, and what the used the money to buy. Pictures of the outreach were also shared with the group.
At the end of 2022, Ms Alao tallied the money received and was astounded to find that they had contributed about ₦650,000 (about $1500 depending on the exchange rate you use) between December 2021 to December 2022.
This encouraged the group and spurred them on to continue in 2023.
Full Participation
The benefit of the WhatsApp group was that every member could share their opinion on what they were doing as a group.
Access to the WhatsApp group would be open to anyone interested in joining the group and making a regular monthly donation.
Learning Points from 2022
- Need for security: Ms Alao’s assistant, Samuel Kadiri reported that due to the level of poverty in Nigeria, the first time he went to a field in Gwagwalada to distribute the food, he was almost overwhelmed by the sheer number of people that were present. Because of this, part of the money that he receives to buy the food now goes towards providing security to ensure his safety
- Banking in Nigeria: The banking system in Nigeria is one where every time money is deposited into someone’s account, their bank takes a commission for depositing the money and also deducts VAT on that commission. When you try to withdraw money, you also pay a withdrawal fee. This means that if $100 is converted to Naira and paid into his bank account, Mr Kadiri might only be able to withdraw $98. Initially, this was not taken into consideration. However, at the end of December 2022, it was decided in the WhatsApp group that banking charges should be deducted from the money pooled together
Plans for 2023
Accounting
The money Ms Alao and her friends previously pooled together were their personal money. They did not use any business funds or ask for third party donations, so they did not have to declare any earnings for the organisation.
However, due to the chaos that went on in the country prior to the presidential election in February 2023, Ms Alao felt that this would be a good time to seek third party donations to help support the people most desperately in need of support.
The Central Bank of Nigeria changed the currency but most people did not have access to the new currency. Lots of places did not have the facilities to accept bank transfers or card payments either, so lots of people could not buy food.
Thus, Bee’s Food Drive was born online on the 16th of February 2023. Since then, it has the facility to accept donations from supports all over the world.
Therefore, from this point onwards, any donations received henceforth will be published on this website.
Expenses associated with the maintenance of this website would also be covered by the donations received.
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If you would like to share your opinion about how the funds we contribute are spent, then become a supporter today and donate.
