LUTH Patients laud Wema Bank Staff as they donate salary to help critically ill children

The mother of a 10-year-old cancer patient, who benefited from the Purple Nectar initiative by Wema Bank has expressed profound appreciation towards the gesture extended by members of staff of the Bank.

Prior to Bank’s visit, the girl who is undergoing chemotherapy had within a 12 hour period taken more than 9 pints of blood.

Mrs Soetan; the mother of the ailing child said her daughter had been at the hospital for 3 months and prayed that God would bless the Wema Bank staff who donated to her ailing daughter.

Another patient at LUTH who benefited from the Purple Nectar Initiative is the mother of a 7-month old baby. Mrs Ngene, broke down in tears as the Wema Bank Managing Director; Mr. Oloketuyi presented a cheque to her, she also thanked the staff of Wema Bank for the kind gesture.

Wema Bank Plc. has for the second year in a row made February its month of giving by donating funds for the treatment of children in emergency wards of three government-owned hospitals across the country.

The initiative called Purple Nectar started last year, and is designed to touch the lives of people in the communities where the bank operates. It involves each interested staff donating a day’s Salary for Love as a way of celebrating St. Valentine’s Day.

“Every 14th of February, the world celebrates St. Valentine’s Day. Usually, couples go out on this day as a way of showing love to each other, but at Wema Bank, we decided that while it is fine for couples to show love to each other on this day, our focus as a bank should be on showing love to those who need it but are not getting it,” said Segun Oloketuyi, Managing Director/CEO, Wema Bank Plc., while presenting a cheque to one of the beneficiaries of the 2017 Purple Nectar Initiative at the Children Emergency Ward of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).

“Some are in critical situations and they need all the help they can get. In our own little way of showing love, the staff of Wema Bank decided to put their salaries for that particular day (February 14) together and looked for people who need our love.

The demonstration of this love is to support those who need help, especially in health-related issues,” Oloketuyi said.

Wema Bank’s Purple Nectar began in 2016 as part of the bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives focused at helping the less-privileged in the society.

One of last year’s beneficiaries, a physically challenged hairdresser bought herself a wheelchair and set up a beauty shop after getting the Purple Nectar funding. She is doing well and has started production of her beauty care line.

The beneficiaries of this year’s Purple Nectar include patients at the Children’s emergency ward at LUTH, Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital, Old GRA Port Harcourt and Wuse General Hospital, Abuja.