About us
“A hot meal for every stomach, a chance to change every circumstance”
The Candlelight Foundation was created out of an observation- that Nigeria has a large working poor population that usually must choose between eating and some other important requirements like transport, medication, children’s fees etc. This enhances unproductivity and causes lower cognitive and physical strength and ability. We also noticed that the majority of these people are male. In a society like ours where the man is head in most households; having an unproductive, hungry and angry male as head of household has great psychological and physical effects on the women and children in their household. With so many foundations, charities and organizations catering to women, girl children, orphans and disabled people, we realized we have none or few organizations catering to the betterment of the men in our society and too few catering to boys.
Thus, a gap was identified that we wish to fill using our soup kitchen, our street kids to school program and our soft skills and computer classes. We decided to join the conversation on domestic violence, rape, child abuse and gender inequality by curating programs that focus on the dominant in the equation- the man! So while the soup kitchen isn’t for men alone, we strive to provide solutions in the area of vocational skills, wellness, group therapy etc. that focus on the male and the male psyche.
We opened our doors in April of 2017 and have since become a beacon of hope within the community. We began a purpose-built soup kitchen to cater to the immediate poverty requirements of the community. Starting at only 80 patrons, we now see over 200 people at our facility every serving day and we currently serve 3 times a week.
VISION
MISSION
The Candlelight Foundation is a non-profit organization that started in 2017. Starting out as a soup kitchen, The Candlelight has grown to include 4 main programs under her belt –
- Mae’s Soup Kitchen
- The Candlelight Mobile Soup Kitchen
- The Street Kids to School program
- The Candlelight Vocational School