Coronavirus Pune: Citizens, NGO and police join hands to feed 1,000

Coronavirus Pune: Citizens, NGO and police join hands to feed 1,000

PUNE: To boost the initiative undertaken by the Hope for the Children Foundation (HFCF) and Pune police’s Social Policing Initiative, PULA - a Facebook group of over 2 lakh women from Pune - have joined hands in their kitchen initiative called ‘Daal Chawal project’.

The project aims to cook 1,000 meals every day, which will be supervised and distributed by the police force.

While HFCF has been working on availing foodgrains and channelising donations by citizens, PULA has taken the role of the social media manager. It will come in need of those suffering due to the lockdown to curb COVID-19’s spread.

The ladies group has managed to raise a fund of Rs 45,000 within 24 hours, stated PULA Founder Sonia Konjeti. “We are trying to create awareness about the initiative on social media as we can reach to lakhs of citizens through our page. I had posted about the initiative only on Wednesday around 4.30 pm, and within 24 hours, we raised a good amount of donation. Since we can’t step out and volunteer in these conditions, the least we could do is raise funds for raw materials from our house,” said Konjeti.

Caroline Audoir De Valter, HFCF Founder and Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are helping by streamlining the resources. We are acting as a medium where citizens can make donations of funds or foodgrains. It is then delivered to the kitchen designated by the police. Anyone who aspires to donate can visit our website or contact us.”

The foundation has also appealed to other organisations to join the initiative. The first set of foodgrains consisting of rice, daal, spices were delivered on Thursday.

PROVIDING MEALS
Accommodation firm Stanza Living has also launched a food distribution drive to supply 5,000 meals to the needy and under-privileged people each week across Delhi, Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad and Indore.

They have joined hands with local police authorities and will be providing meals to people stranded due to the lockdown and adversely impacted by a scarcity of resources, the shared living company said in a statement.

“Stanza Living will be supplying hygienically-prepared meals to areas identified by the authorities, where those most affected by the pandemic like migrant workers and daily wage earners can be supported. It is also reaching out to provide meals to the on-ground staff of local bodies, frontline civic workers and more,” it said.

Sandeep Dalmia, MD and Co-founder, Stanza Living said: “As a responsible corporate, we believe we must leverage our resources to support the community in tough times. Our food distribution drive is a small gesture in this direction to provide relief to the most vulnerable of our people and those relentlessly working on the ground with limited support.”

The company has of late also taken up several initiatives aimed at addressing and resolving community-centric challenges in the wake of the pandemic. 

(With IANS inputs)

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