Good Samaritans: These People Are Providing Food To Those Who Need It Amid COVID Crisis

India has been witnessing an unprecedented rise in COVID cases. In wake of the alarming surge, people across quarters are coming forward to help COVID patients with home cooked food.

From Bengaluru to Hyderabad, people are helping COVID patients who are in home isolation and are unable to cook.

Bengaluru

Some Bengaluru residents, many of whom are young women on two-wheelers are going door to door to provide properly cooked good meals to those who are suffering or recovering from COVID, as per a report in The New Indian Express.

Volunteers from Good Quest Foundation, Corona Care, Bengaluru, Bangalore Rural Educational and Development Society (BREADS), Project Vision, AIFO and ECHO began a free food service in East and Central Bengaluru.

¡°We are now reaching out to KR Puram and Mysuru Road, covering nearly 80 families and 300 people,¡± said Vinod Kumar, from Good Quest Foundation, and coordinator of the ¡®Food To Your Doorstep¡¯ programme.

¡°At present, we have a kitchen in Sultanpalya in RT Nagar. We are shortly going to start kitchen services in South Bengaluru and Whitefield,¡± he added.

But that's not the only place this is happening. Move over to Hyderabad, where a bunch of good samaritans is ensuring that those in need amid the COVID crisis get food and medicines.

TNIE

Going online

D Surender Babu runs a web portal 'Feed The Poor' which aims to aid those in rural areas with food and medicine. He and his team get donations from all those willing to help and then deliver to the people who are often overlooked in these situations.

"We often neglect the people who live in rural areas during the time of crisis. The fact is that they are the ones who are most affected. People affected by coronavirus in villages do not have enough financial support, so I decided to provide them with minimal facilities. People can check out feedthepoor.in and then fill in their details as to what they want to donate," he said.

"We will come and pick it up from their mentioned addresses or they can also donate medicines and groceries through online sites where these sites would drop them to our address and we would distribute them to the people who are in need of it," he added.

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Providing food in hospitals

Gowri Bakaraju is serving food to those in need in different hospitals in Hyderabad.

"I got the idea of serving food to those who are underprivileged when I witnessed an incident in my family. About 11 people were affected by the virus and there were kids among them. These people were not able to cook their own food and then I thought about the people who are not privileged enough to have even one meal and so I decided to do my part. I decided to serve food to the people who are at the hospitals," she said.

"At first, I was scared I would get infected as I was doing it all alone while my mother cooked all the food. Then Vyshali Somanchi and Surya Somanchi approached me to help me out and volunteer for this work. Since then, we have been doing this together. It feels good when you help those in need. I feel if more people can take such initiatives, it would help our country. I have been feeding around 100 people daily and I wish to give more to those in need during these tough times," she added.

2 sisters prove to be saviours

While COVID ravages across India, 2 women in Patna are proving to be saviours for those infected in the city. Anupama Singh and her mother Kundan Devi cook food at home which is then delivered by her sister Neelima, as per a report in The New Indian Express.

Neelima and Kundan ensure the food is packed properly. She also takes care of her sister's baby.

"Recently, a member of my family tested positive for the virus. We realised how it is difficult for virus-infected people to get meals while living in self-isolation. Hence, we started serving free food packets to the homes of coronavirus-infected patients living in self-isolation as a service to humanity at our own cost," said Anupama.

¡°We have dedicated all our savings, which were kept for marriage, anniversaries, birthday functions, purchasing clothes and doing other household work for the next one year, to continue serving free foods to the COVID-19 patients,¡± she added.

Tribal woman provides free meals

Nisha Bhagat runs her own cafe in Ranchi. Now the tribal woman has converted her business into service for the families suffering from COVID. As per a report in The New Indian Express, free breakfast, lunch and dinner are provided to these households by her.

She supplies around 45 people and it all began when a woman caller asking for home delivery asked for 'khichhadi'.

"She was ready to pay whatever¡­I was a bit surprised because people generally don¡¯t order that simple food over the phone," she said.

"Then the caller told me the sad part; everyone in that family had turned COVID positive and none of them was physically fit enough to cook food. I took the order and sent it out. That set me thinking why not provide free food to such families," she added.