A fridge placed at a sidewalk in Coimbatore.



Coimbatore: The first sidewalk fridge in Tamil Nadu to feed the poor was launched on Sunday at R S Puram.

An initiative of city-based NGO No Food Waste and local restaurant Kollywood Café, the fridge will allow the public to share excess food with poor people. All one has to do is to pack the food and keep it inside the sidewalk fridge from where the needy can take it.

Padmanabhan Gopalan of No Food Waste said they always wanted to set up a sidewalk fridge for the poor in the city, but weren't sure if it would work. "When we got to know about a similar initiative by a woman in Kochi and Share and Care Foundation in New Delhi, we conducted a field study. We spoke to a few restaurant owners in the city and they agreed to implement it," he said.

Perur Hariharan Suresh, owner of Kollywood Café, said though they were aware of the concept they were worried about practical difficulties with regard to its maintenance and sustainability.

"But, when we found a model in Kochi, which was running successfully, we immediately wanted to do something similar here," he said.

Suresh has been donating excess food from his catering business to various NGOs for the past few years. "We have a lot of excess food, so we will be able to manage," he said.

The sidewalk fridge has been set up outside his restaurant. The fridge was donated by Delhi-based NGO Share and Care Foundation.

