New York City, NY – Osas Ighodaro, Actor, Model and Miss Black USA 2010 is launching her nonprofit organization Joyful Joy, founded to sustainably transform the lives of people living under the poverty line in Africa, one community at a time.
The Social Problem: Malaria is killing more than 3,000 African children every day and 70% of Nigerians are living below poverty. Africa may feel a world apart, but we are all connected. What happens to one happens to us all. Joyful Joy intends to bridge the gap and help pour in needed support to areas in desperate need.
Event: Joyful Joy Launch • Complimentary Admission • Hosts: AJ Calloway & Osas Ighodaro
Sponsor: Heineken & Belvedere
Partners: WBLS, BET, Face 2 Face Africa, Applause Africa and Akila Work songs
Date: May 22nd 2012, from 6pm-11pm
Open Bar: 6pm-7pm
Location: The Premier XL Lounge • 512 42nd Street (between Tenth & Eleventh Avenues)
Contact: Fabrice Armand: Production Manager • 917.693.3632 • fabrice@fabricejarmand.com, Sioux Greaux: Managing Director • 212.729.4037 • sioux@joyfuljoy.org
Attendants: New York City professionals, elected officials, celebrities, and notable figures in the nonprofit sector.
Beneficiary Organization: Joyful Joy
Osas founded Joyful Joy in honor of her sister Joy Ighodaro. Joy was with child and contracted malaria during a visit to Nigeria in 2006. At the time, there was little awareness on how to treat the disease and tragically two lives vanished. Osas became very passionate and pro-active about increasing awareness of the disease. On a trip to Nigerian 2011, Osas witnessed senseless deaths from preventable disease, hunger, polluted lands and devastated economies. It was then that she pledged to create Joyful Joy, to honor the lives of those she loved and to offer support towards saving lives and sustainably creating a better quality of living for those who are in desperate need.
The Joyful Joy Campaign is a broad-based, international effort to build support amongst organizations, corporations and the general public to rally combined efforts to directly impact and transform the lives of people living in extremely impoverished communities of Africa both socially and economically.