From Project 26 to the Nnenna Orji Charity Foundation.

We are not a large organisation. We are a disciplined one.

What follows is the story of how one vision, a group of friends and a simple act of giving grew into the Nnenna Orji Charity Foundation.

On 26 December 2020, one visioner and her group of friends came together with a simple desire: to bring food and a little joy to people in their community during the Christmas season. They prepared 120 plates of jollof rice and took them to Ajah Under Bridge, Lagos, where they shared the meals with people in the community. There was no elaborate organisation behind it. Just a vision, willing hands and the belief that something good could begin with what they had. They called it Project 26, after the date of the outreach. What began as a single Boxing Day meal would eventually become something much bigger. The following year, they discovered a limitation of the hot meal: It ends. So they began thinking beyond the meal. They added the box. Food staples, essential items and clothing contributed and prepared by volunteers became part of what would eventually become A Box of Hope. The idea was simple: if a meal could provide nourishment for a moment, a box could provide something that lasted a little longer. And so, Project 26 began to evolve.

By 2022, the operation had outgrown goodwill. A volunteer roster was written down. A sorting protocol replaced the pile on the floor. Procurement became more deliberate, moving from individual retail purchases towards bulk buying. The work was becoming more organised. Not because the heart behind it had changed, but because the vision had grown. In 2023, the work extended to Kano, creating a second outreach hub. In 2024, Project 26 formally became the Nnenna Orji Charity Foundation, giving the work a formal organisational structure. And by 2026, the cumulative number of boxes and meals distributed had passed 800. Today, NOCF continues to grow while holding on to the principle that started everything: Give what you can. Show up. And make sure people know they have not been forgotten.