Hunger heroes to the rescue

Two years ago, Ankit Kwatra, 24, had attended a typical Delhi wedding where he saw a spread featuring 35 diferent cuisines across the world. After speaking to the caterer, he found that all the leftovers that were enough to feed at least 10,000 people, would be thrown in the trash. The thought of so much food being wasted, when it could be donated, haunted him and thus Feeding India was born.

“Our NGO works on a hyper local basis wherein a local volunteer collects food from his area and deliver it to the shelter homes we have partnered with,” said Shristi Jain, Core leader, Marketing, Feeding India.

Neel Ghose, Vice-President, International Operations, Zomato, was in Portugal on a business trip when he came across Re-Food, a local NGO that collected leftover food and fed it to the destitute. Ghose, who landed up volunteering with this NGO decided to start something similar on his return home. The Robin Hood Army (RHA), a brainchild of Ghose and his friend Anand Sinha now feed millions across the country.

“We work only on the weekends and sometimes during the week depending on the availability of food. Our aim is to collect freshly cooked food or leftovers and then distribute it to the needy. We have identified pockets in the city where there is a large concentration of beggars, especially children so we take the food there. Every weekend, we go to a new location,” said Saloni Kapoor, 28, who works in a sustainable energy company.

The concept of donating excess food is not new, however, the concept of collecting it and distributing it in an organised manner has evolved in the last two years. “We have 25,000 volunteers across the country, who collect food from restaurants, caterers and other hotels daily. This food is then fed to almost 5,000 people everyday. We focus on old age homes, and children,” said Jain.

Celebrity chefs Ritu Dalmia, Saransh Golia, Ranveer Brar, etc, are among those who support this cause. “I wish many more did this since so much food gets wasted,” said chef Ritu Dalmia of the Diva restaurant fame. “All the leftover food from my restaurant, and catering functions is donated to Feeding India,” Dalmia added.

Feeding India fields at least 1,000 calls daily on their helpline that runs 24/7. Spread across 32 cities, Jain agrees that the wedding season is the best time for food collection. “Last season, we picked up food from more than 600 weddings across the country, Jain added.

However, there are several NGO’s who work on a smaller scale. Dr Rajesh Kumar from Society for the Promotion of Youth and Masses (SPYM) collects whatever little that can be donated and feeds almost 500 meals daily.

“We support at least 3,000-4,000 people who live in shelters. It is impossible to take care of all, hence priority is given to women and children. Then vulnerables like drug users are fed and lastly, patients who have come to the city for treatment are fed. Although, the amount of food that we get is very less, we try to make the most of it,” said Kumar.

Ambulances, meant to pick-up rescued pups and kittens, also collect leftover uncooked meat from restaurants and hotels. The food is then cooked with rice and almost 800 cats and dogs are fed daily at the Sanjay Gandhi Animal Care Centre (SGACC). “Eight ambulances pick up almost 150-200 kilos of meat daily,” said Dilip Suri, Manager (Provisions), SGACC.

India score on the Global Hunger Index is 28.5, which means we feature in the ‘serious’ category. Countries like Rwanda, Nigeria, Iraq, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, fall in the same category but still have better ratings.