One of the key problems that afflict humans is poverty. In Chennai, there are a lot of people falling below the poverty line without any access to at least one meal a day.
In order to help those people a 12-member team started Food Bank, with a goal to provide food to those in need.
Started just two months ago, Food Bank’s secretary Altaf Ahmad says, “There is nothing more saddening than the realisation that as we live our happy lives here, millions of our fellow human beings live in hunger and face starvation. There is a lot of food getting wasted and we as a team understood this and decided that it is our duty to look after the hungry, poor and needy. So one-and-half years ago we decided to give the left-over food to those who are in need. When this exercise gave us a positive impact, we decided to make this big and formed Food Bank, a couple of months ago.”
Soon after establishing Food Bank in Royapettah, the team got in touch with hotels and marriage halls around the locality and informed them to intimate them whenever food is left over as they will be collecting it. “Once we get that food, we pack it and distribute to the homeless people living by the roadside,” he adds.
Only after doing this activity did Food Bank realise that there are still many more people within the locality of Triplicane and Royapettah who struggle to get even one meal per day. “After realising this we decided to collect their database to ensure that they come under the below poverty category. So far we have collected the data of 37 people who come under the criteria and we give them breakfast daily,” says Altaf.
Apart from providing food, the Food Bank also does other kinds of social activities like providing bedsheets and shawls to the homeless people living on road-side platforms.
Altaf Ahmad can be reached at 98841 36759.