History & Mission
Our mission is to decrease the disproportionate burden of disease among medically under served communities through community partnerships, education, empowerment, and interventional strategies that impact behavioral, environmental and community determinants of health and disease.
Our geographic focus is the Fruit Belt community in Buffalo, New York, and St. John Baptist Church, St. John Baptist Fruit Belt Community Development Corporation, and the Rev. Dr. Bennett W. Smith Sr. Family Life Center.
We are focusing programming in two key areas: Food / Nutrition and Wellness Initiatives. Under Food / Nutrition, we have a mobile food delivery truck, “God’s Farmacy,” and offer weekly cooking and nutrition classes.
Under Wellness, we offer yoga, fitness, chronic disease management, and other health education workshops. We have also developed a Family Health Portraits initiative, helping families to better understand their health histories and establish healthy lifestyles.
Minister Ina R. Chapman is the founder and director of WECGOD II, Inc. with the support of:
- St. John Baptist Church,
- St. John Baptist Fruit Belt Community Development Corporation,
- the Rev. Dr. Bennett W. Smith Sr. Family Life Center
- Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church, and
- Roxanne Skeels (HouseCache Technologies)
Together these programs specialize in healthcare project management, community health education, and network and database engineering. They engage many volunteers in operating their programs.
WECGOD II, Inc. utilizes space, including a commercial kitchen and food storage area, in a thirty thousand square foot activity center for health, education and recreational activities – the Rev. Dr. Bennett W. Smith Sr. Family Life Center.
WECGOD II, Inc. initiatives complement the other community programming operating in this building, including Century Wellness and Erma D. Robinson Universal Daycare. It also utilizes the St. John and Gethsemane Baptist Churchs’ congregations and the St. John Baptist Fruit Belt Community Development Corporation subsidized housing projects to identify needs and access the most vulnerable in our community. These housing development projects include:
- McCarley Gardens
- St. John Senior Towers
- St. John Town Homes Phase I and II.
WECGOD II, Inc. serves through these partnerships, as well as serving the Fruit Belt community at large.
