Food wastage is very rampant in our country. We have seen for ourselves how much food is wasted in weddings and parties that we attend. In order to curb this wastage, Andheri residents have set up a community fridge to reduce food wastage and provide food to the underprivileged people.
People can get food from the fridge anytime between 1 PM and 2:30 PM and 7:00 PM and 9:30 PM daily.? The initiative was started by the residents of Andheri and Versova Welfare Association.
"Such community fridges have been installed at five places, namely, Lokhandwala, Versova, Oshiwara, DN Nagar and Mira Road," said Preeti Khorana, a resident of the area.
bccl/representational image
The caretaker of the community fridge, Naveen Kumar Mandal said, "The aim is to check food wastage and use the extra food to feed the needy.
This will help those who live on the roads and those who are jobless or poor."
BCCL/Representational Image
Afzal Ansari, who uses the community fridge said, "We come here at 12 o'clock for food. We get it by 1 PM to 2 PM. We are happy to get food as we are jobless."
The food is provided by nearby eateries, residents of the area and members of the Versova Welfare Society.
There is another community fridge in Bhubaneshwar that also serves the needy. Feeding India NGO has started an initiative to install community refrigerators that will store food for the needy.
The fridge, called the "happy fridge", is meant to store food for the hungry.
Representational Image
In these community refrigerators, people can store surplus food or can donate to the needy so that the ones in need can be fed.
Shyama Singh, city leader of Feeding India in Bhubaneshwar has appealed to people to donate at least two pieces of chappatis and a bowl of rice and dal, enough to feed one person.
Volunteers have also been assigned to check the quality of food and hygiene of the refrigerators.
Given India's awful ranking in the latest latest Global Hunger Index (GHI) (India at 102 among 117 countries), such initiatives are imperative in combating the problem of hunger in our country.
(With inputs from agencies)