About Us
Founded in November, 2016, "The Mother of Mercy Charitable Foundation” or MMCF is a non-profit organization.
The Birth of MMCF
While earning his doctorate in Catholic educational leadership at University of San Francisco, Fr. Edward Inyanwachi, a native of Ebonyi State, Nigeria, served in a number of San Francisco parishes. During this time he met one of those parishoners, Angela Testani, then a nurse at University of California, San Francisco. With a shared commitment to helping others, a spiritual bond developed between priest and parishioner. When he returned to Nigeria, Fr. Edward invited Angela to visit his parish to see how her nursing experience and contacts in San Francisco could help the rural population he served in Ebonyi State. Angela first arrived in Nigeria with suitcases full of basic medical supplies and had previously sent pallets of books to Nigeria. Angela had also volunteered in New Orleans after Katrina and in Sudan. But it wasn't until she visited Fr. Edward that she felt like she could really make a difference in people's lives - the people in Nigeria. In 2016, Fr. Edward and Angela decided to ramp up their efforts to raise money by setting a $25,000 goal to ship 10,000 lbs of medical equipment and supplies to a hospital in Ebonyi State. In September 2016, after they had achieved their fundraising goal, people encouraged them to organize their own non-profit to continue with their mission. In November 2016, the Mother of Mercy Charitable Foundation was born and in March 2017, 15,000 lbs of much needed medical/surgical equipment/supplies (5,000 lbs over the original goal) were delivered by MMCF to the hospital. The origins of MMCF are detailed in a Catholic San Francisco newspaper feature article. For the full article read HERE.
Mission Statement for The Mother of Mercy Charitable Foundation
"Helping to provide for the Health Care, Educational and Humanitarian needs of the Nigerian people."
Highlight of Past Projects
• Solar Panels: Installation of Solar Panels to power Laboratory at Mater Misericordiae Hospital, July 2019
• COVID 19 Response
FUTURE PROJECTS
• Textbooks for schools in Abakaliki Diocese
MMCF is beginning an effort to obtain textbooks which would be otherwise discarded by schools in the United States. The books will then be shipped for distribution to schools in the 2, 298 square mile Akabaliki Diocese where the students marvel at books and are eager to read them. We welcome your support to realize this goal so we can ship old textbooks to a corner of the world where they will still be used.
|
A Glimpse of Ebonyi State, Nigeria and the people served by MMCF
This eight minute video is compiled from footage and stills taken during a visit by MMCF co founder Angela Testani to see MMCF president and co founder, Fr. Edward Inyanwachi in Ebonyi State, Nigeria.
The video begins in Nigeria with the road to Abakaliki, Ebonyi State's capitol, and driving through the streets of the capitol. The first two stills show a yam hut which is used for storage of this tuber, the primary and often only source of food for the rural poor of Ebonyi State, followed by stills of Fr. Edward and the local children. The next video footage depicts mass at Fr. Edward's parish of St Patrick's where parishioners dressed in their "Sunday Best" walk miles on dirt roads to attend the two and a half hour Sunday mass combining Catholic and native traditions. Other stills include: photos of Maureen, the local mother making jewelry and accessories from beads to help support her family, and her merchandise; Father Edward distributing toothbrushes to children at night by flashlight from his phone; Angela with local women; an exterior shot of a photo of the nursing school at Mater Misericordiae Hospital in Afikpo, Ebonyi State's second largest city; photos of a local makeshift pharmacy at Holy Cross Hospital annex and photos of patients in the Mater Misrecordiae Hospital for which MMCF is providing solar panels. |
|
MMCF Board of Directors and Officers
Like the board members of most charitable organizations, MMCF's board members are volunteers who receive no remuneration or monetary compensation for their services.
More About Our Board.
More About Our Board.