Army of volunteers and home-cooks work together to meet goal

When Mahita Fernandez, a 34-year-old playschool owner, started a Facebook group called ‘Feed Your Neighbour’ this Dasara, she hardly expected the overwhelming response she got.

In three weeks, an army of volunteers and home-cooks worked together to meet the goal of feeding one lakh people over 11 days.

Ms. Fernandez also turned her home into a central kitchen, which served food for 10,000 people on the last day of the campaign on Thursday. Bengalureans were asked to contribute in three ways: volunteer to cook rice meals, be a part of the distribution network, or provide dry rations to the central kitchen.

On October 12, the first day of the campaign, 6,545 packets of rice meals were served to the needy. By day 11, the number reached 18,851. The group crossed their goal in a spectacular fashion: serving 1,22,937 packets by October 22. On October 21, the day the most packets went out, 19,776 packets of food were served.

Ms. Fernandez is overwhelmed by the response. “When I started off, I didn’t think it would be a project of this mammoth a scale. In the process, I learnt there are thousands of people who want to help the community. More than reaching a targeted number, I judge the community involvement, the sense of positivity and the enthusiasm to continue this on a long term, as the real success.”

Manjunath, a resident of Indiranagar, said volunteering opened his eyes to the hardships faced by his fellow brethren. “At Nagavarpalya slum, 200 children waited for us to bring food on all ten days. If we were stuck in a traffic jam, they would ask us why we were late,” he says. A concerted effort from the government and support from everyone is needed to find a concrete solution to the problem of feeding the city’s hungry, he stresses.

The question of whether to give a man a fish or to teach him to fish has been debated among volunteers since day one, says Ms. Fernandez. “When we started, it was an 11-day programme, and during a festival which is generally a time for giving, But on a long-term basis, that will be something I will be considering. That said, most of the groups we are targeting are the aged, infirm and children, who really need help.”

Emboldened by the support, Ms. Fernandez plans to recoup and begin a long-term sustainable project to feed the poor.