It is said there is not a bigger joy than feeding others. Whether the times are good or bad, there is someone out there trying to help those in need. And, even during such testing times, stories emerged where people with limited means offered food to the distressed.
1.?Vikas Khanna?
Award-winning chef Vikas Khanna who lives in New York has been working across continents and time zones since April to organize what has become one of the world's largest food drives.?So far, his "Feed India" initiative has fed around 50 million Indians who have struggled to provide for their families during the coronavirus pandemic.
2. Khalsa Aid
UK-based international Sikh charity, Khalsa Aidset up makeshift kitchens across the state of Punjab which made meals for over 15,000 protesting farmers in September end. The farmers were demonstrating against the passing of the two agriculture reform bills in the Parliament.?
The volunteers distributed food to protesting farmers across the state including cities like Mansa, Jalandhar, Barnala and Shamb. This wasn't the first time Khalsa Aid came out in support of a group. Earlier, the community has helped deliver essential items during Delhi riots in February, fed people during Assam floods in 2019, Kerala floods in 2018 and helped during many such crises.?
3. Harsh and Heena Mandavia
Harsh Mandavia and his mother Heena, who run Harsh Thali and Parathas, a delivery?kitchen?in Kandivali, Mumbai, distributed more than 13,500 meals to needy people in 157 days, starting in May. It all began as a one-day food donation drive for the needy during COVID lockdown. To keep the drive going, Harsh regularly posts on social media under the?#FeedTheNeedy?prompting hundreds of people to come forward and donate money. Began from a mere Rs 100, they received as much as Rs 8 lakh by the end of 157 days. They say they'll keep preparing food and delivering it no matter how much donation they receive.?
4. Gurdwaras
The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee organised a 'langar on wheels' to feed migrants who were travelling back to their native villages. 15 new vehicles were flagged from Gurdwara Sri Bangla Sahib in June to distribute langar to the needy and helpless at different borders in Delhi.
This even as many gurdwaras including Delhi's Bangla Sahib, Nanak Piao, Rakabganj Sahib and Sis Ganj Sahib serve over 1,00,000 meals everyday, and continued to do so during the lockdown.?
5. Rani
70-year-old?Rani runs an?idli shop?near Agni Theertham in Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu to serve free food to poor people.?She provides food to poor for free, and charges a minimal amount from other customers even as she works relentlessly to earn her own livelihood.?Rani said that she still uses the traditional wooden stove to prepare her food because it is economical. Rakku, who works with Rani at her shop, says that Rani never pesters people to pay money for the food.??
6. Cyclist Philem and his friends?
Since March, a cyclist Philem who is a part of a campaign by the Paralympic Committee of Indiaand his friends, served homeless people in Manipur's Imphal.?They spent more than Rs 3 lakh for feeding the poor. While some of the money comes from small donations, the majority is raised by the activists themselves selling their campaign t-shirts.??
7. Amma Canteen
In 2016, then chief minister of Tamil Nadu Jayalalithaa, launched "Amma Canteens" that have always fed the poor in the state, with the simple and fresh food sold at highly subsidised rates making life easier for many.?
The initiative has since?inspired states like Karnataka, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh for similar subsidised food programmes.
8. Karnataka mobile canteen
In 2018, Karnataka government launched?30 ‘Savi Ruchi Sanchari’ (mobile) canteens with the aim to serve food to the marginalised across 30 districts. The campaign flagged off by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at Vidhana Soudha is managed by 15 women per vehicle under the Federation of Stree Shakti groups and serve freshly prepared breakfast and lunch across all districts.
9) Indira Canteen
Earlier in 2017, Karnataka government opened canteens across Bengaluru to provide food at affordable rates to the labour class and poor migrants. In the initial phase, 101 canteens daily served vegetarian tiffin (breakfast) at Rs 5 per plate and lunch and dinner at Rs 10 each in 101 civic wards.?
10. Tamilarasan
Tamilarasan, a tea seller in Alanganallur, Madurai spent a part of his earnings to feed the poor and homeless people during the lockdown.??"I sell tea on a bicycle every morning and evening in the surrounding villages of Alankanallur, Mettupatti and Pudupatti from which I get decent daily income," Tamilarsan told news agency?ANI.
He also said that his dream was of setting up his own shop in the region and helping more people who belong to a weak economic background. He said that he had applied for a loan in the past but the application got rejected as he had no collaterals to provide to the bank.