Elmont organization gives back to Nigerian community

Emilian Emeagwali, founder of the Giving Back to Community Corporation in Elmont, has served the needs of thousands of children and adults in her home country of Nigeria since launching her nonprofit in 2009.

For more than a decade, Emeagwali and a group of volunteers have traveled to the city of Onitsha — her hometown — to hand out necessary resources to those in the community.

On Dec. 22, the group organized a food distribution event at Ogboli Primary School in Onitsha. This year, Emeagwali said, many young adults got involved with the cause, and she went with three of her children and three of their friends.

“It’s amazing to see the impact that my friend’s mother has,” said Sky Arthur, a volunteer. “The kids were extremely adorable, and I loved seeing the joy that they had.”

The group started the distribution event by giving out backpacks to children, and then when the adults arrived, Giving Back to Community volunteers began handing out food, such as rice, beans, tomatoes and salt. Emeagwali said the hundreds of bags of food they passed around went a long way.

According to the Global Hunger Index, Nigeria’s hunger level is deemed serious. According to UNICEF Nigeria, the country has the second-highest rate of stunted children in the world — 32 percent of thos younger than 5 years old.

“Everywhere I go, they are still thanking me — people are so hungry,” Emeagwali said. “Just to see I made changes and helped over 2,000 people, it is nice.”

Emeagwali, a physical therapist and owner of State of the Art Physical Therapy Rehabilitation in Valley Stream, founded the nonprofit organization after a visit to Nigeria. What she saw was an appalling reality of children in her hometown going to bed hungry, having no access to clean water, education or other basic needs.

From that point on, she said her mission was to help the underprivileged in her home country. In the beginning, Emeagwali said she financed the trips to Nigeria herself and would go around Christmas. Now that Giving Back to Community has gained some traction and more volunteers throughout the years, she has been able to include others in this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The organization focuses on feeding poor individuals, reducing illiteracy rates, improving the quality of schools in low-income communities and awarding scholarships to youths. Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Giving Back to Community team has expanded its efforts to include struggling children and families in the U.S., specifically Elmont.

In November, volunteers collected canned goods, non-perishables and other items to donate to families or individuals in need in Elmont so they could put food on the table during the holidays.

Emeagwali said the organization is working on opening its own food pantry near the Elmont Memorial Library on Hempstead Turnpike. Right now, it’s in the beginning stages of construction.

After the success of the Dec. 22 food distribution event, Emeagwali said she is already thinking about when to make her next trip to Nigeria.

“I like to be able to brighten someone’s day, and that day I was able to brighten it for over a thousand people,” Emeagwali said. “Every year, the people who come multiply, so I’m planning to do more.”