This is what 'Giving Back' looks like in Elmont

Giving Back to Community Corporation, an Elmont-based nonprofit, raised more than $33,000 in 2023, with residents’ help, to aid the hungry on both a local and international scale. The organization held raffles and hosted a gala and a 5K run, and all of its work was made possible by community support.

To help families in Nigeria provide meals for their loved ones during the holiday season, GBTC Founder Emilian Emeagwali, a native Onitsha, Nigeria, traveled to her hometown last month, where she and 30 volunteers distributed food and clothing to more than 2,000 people.

The organization filled 2,000 bags of rice, beans, tomatoes and salt to give out to those in need.

“The need (for food) has tremendously increased,” Emeagwali said. “People are really suffering there, based on how they get things.”

The trip was a success, she said, with nearly 4,000 people gathering for the distribution. GBTC also shipped clothing and shoes to give out to members of the Onitsha community.

“Almost everybody got the food or the clothing, but it wasn’t enough,” Emeagwali said, adding that the number of people who showed up for the supplies kept multiplying as word spread throughout the community.

Emeagwali has traveled to Nigeria with GBTC for the past seven years. “Food scarcity is unbelievable there,” she said. “They were telling me that things are so hard there that they can’t afford rice for their Christmas.”

Last year, the hunger in Nigeria was deemed serious by the Global Hunger Index. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, 300,000 children in the country’s Borno State are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition in 2024.

Emeagwali also visited two orphanages in Onitsha, where she donated bags of rice and salt to children who were happy to see the supplies.

Giving Back to Community Corporation is about more than just giving food to those in need. The organization also helps women entrepreneurs in Nigeria who want to provide for their families. While in her home country, Emeagwali interviewed 20 women to decide who the organization would support this year.

Throughout the month of January, Emeagwali said, she will look over their business plans to determine who the best candidate would be to open a small business in Nigeria.

“There’s been several women that we’ve already sponsored that are already doing pretty good,” said Sandra Fernandez, an ambassador for GBTC. “We kind of like monitor them to make sure that they’re the ones that are still handling the business, and that they’re pushing forward.”

The organization helped many people in the Elmont area throughout 2023, with events including a turkey drive before Thanksgiving to feed local families.

“The goal is to be able to provide nutrition to the people that are not able to obtain [//IT?//] due to resources,” Fernandez said. “(Those) who don’t have much money to buy the food necessarily.”

To provide for families in Elmont who don’t have the resources to feed their families on a regular basis, GBTC hopes to raise enough money to start a food pantry in town. Emeagwali believes if the organization can raise $20,000 to $30,000, it will be able to open one.

Fernandez said that the organization hopes to expand its reach this year, and help more children through scholarships.

To donate to the nonprofit, or to find out more about how to get involved, visit GivingBackToCommunity.org.

“I’m begging people (to donate),” Emeagwali said. “Even if they have just a little bit to donate, it can go a long way.”

The good that people can do is multiplied when they help others, Fernandez added. “If we knew that just by giving a piece of bread to the neighbor that doesn’t have,” she said, “you know it might trigger them or motivate them to get back on their feet again, because they feel like they’re being supported at their lowest point.”