“I was depressed. The view on life appeared to be grim. But when I joined as a volunteer with the ‘Food to the Doorstep’ programme and started delivering food for the Covid-affected at home, life regained its meaning and purpose,” said Joemon Tomy as he shared his experience with fellow volunteers and organisers of CoronaCare in Bengaluru. About 70 people listened for two hours at the St Alphonsa Church in Sultan Palaya, Bangalore, to such fascinating testimonies.
Deepak from The Good Quest Foundation, who has been handling the backup data for the eight kitchens CoronaCare Bengaluru has put up for the past two months, gave the total statistics for the food packs we have provided. During the Covid shutdown, the Food to the Doorstep initiative served 69,617 hungry stomachs in 55 days.
Speaking to News Karnataka Fr. George Kannanthanam CMF said that, “ It all began on April 20, when the six CoronaCare Bengaluru partners held a Zoom meeting to discuss what interventions are required to help Bengaluru’s 10 million residents during the second wave of Covid. The government had announced a night curfew and other restrictions in the city earlier in the day. In the evening, the Prime Minister addressed the nation with a call to action.
Bengaluru’s six Christian non-governmental organisations, determined it was time to take action. Hope Society (Claretians), BREADS (Saletians), ECHO (Norbertines), Orione Seva (Sons of Divine Providence), and two lay organisations, AIFO and The Good Quest Foundation, collaborated to ensure that no one went hungry during the two lockdowns.
As a result, the ‘Food to the Doorstep’ initiative was formed. All of the organisations pool their resources. Miserior from Germany stepped in to support initiative.
The team decided to focus on the most vulnerable group – those under quarantine and those infected by Covid and isolated at home. For 14 days they helped in providing people with food at their doorstep, by paying a visit at the isolated homes.
The Good Quest identified the Sharon Foods restaurant that was getting closed. Monish the owner, was planing to send all the workers from North East back home. “We struck a deal with them – provide us 200 packets of food every day. We will provide the provisions. We agreed to pay them 2700 rupees daily and got our food ready. This way, the restaurant and workers survived,” said Fr George Kannanthanam CMF.
The team were able to manage in finding volunteers and in two days they registered 20 of them. The volunteers were given training. “Utmost care was given for each volunteer to be safe. No one was to meet the patients at home. They were to leave the food outside the door and then call them by phone – the very meaning of ‘food at door step,” he added.
Volunteers were all given N95 masks, hand gloves, face shield and sanitisers. “More than 60 of our volunteers were constantly in touch with hundreds of people during the lockdown while distributing food, not one was infected with Covid. It was the result of a careful plan as much as it was the protection of God. After all, they were doing His work of feeding the hungry,” said Fr George.
In three days, the number of requests for food, shot up to 246. Requests came pound in from other parts of Bengaluru. Within four days, the team opened the second kitchen at Chikkabanuvara with the help of Tomy’s of restaurant Anns’ Kitchen which was lying vacant and came very handy with his staff and wonderful group of about 20 volunteers. He helped people in North Bengaluru. Third kitchen was in South Bengaluru under the leadership of Pastor Benjamin. His ‘Cross Road Cafe’ with his five migrant staff was more than happy to cover more than 60 families. In a week’s time, we had delivered two more kitchens.
“Fourth and fifth kitchens were very special. The kitchens at Jeevanbhimanagar in Indira Nagar and Sadaramangala in Whitefield were exclusively meant for the slum population, many of them in isolation and quarantine. With the lockdown extended regularly and with no work in sight, the slum population who lived on daily earnings were totally bankrupt. Chitra worked as the coordinator with us. We set up the kitchen right inside the slum and got the beneficiaries themselves to cook and provide. We provided the rations. More than 300 people benefited from this service daily,” he added.
The sixth kitchen came up by the end of May in Hennur road area near Kothanur. The Help Desk mission under the leadership of Jaison reached out to the construction workers from North Karnataka through this Kitchen. He went on to say that, “Another restaurant in the ventilator called Cafe Samorian was given life by engaging it to provide food for over 350 people. It was very heartening for me to join the team to deliver the food to these families who had lost their job for more than a month. After distributions in five locations where the worker groups stayed, our lunch at 4 pm tasted so nice.”
The seventh Kitchen was in Mysutu. Having heard of the Bengaluru kitchens, a group of volunteers from Mysuru came forward to replicate our model. Just sharing our methods of work, they went on to serve food for about 200 persons. They were named CoronaCare Mysore.
From June 14, Government of Karnataka brought in the relaxation to the lockdown. “We continued to serve the food for about a week’s time after that, giving time for people to get back to their normal life and earning. Our last food was served on June 19, from the same kitchen that we started the service on the April 25,” said Fr George.
The team ensured to provide quality food with rice, chapathi and curry, sometimes with salad and fruits. Egg was a part of the daily menu. Sundays were made special with biriyani. It cost us an average of fifty rupees per food.
They made the best use of technologies. He further said that, “The food was just a phone call away for any Bengalureans. A google form was given for anyone to request for food. We had a team of volunteers who were to counter check with the requests to verify their authenticity and get their locations. Facebook and WhatsApp helped in spreading the word about the availability of food. There was a report from every one of the kitchens by evening with all details. Vinod Kumar, the commander in chief of the operation, verified the whole service in his mobile phone, including the timing of each food delivery.”
Apart from the requests that came from the houses, the volunteers always carried some additional food packets. Any destitute person on the road were provided the food. “With empty roads and closed hotels and beggars unwelcome to the houses, our volunteers were waited for on the roads by such destitute. Tomy and team reached out also to the Ambulance drivers who waited endlessly at the crematorium on a regular basis,” he added.
He also mentioned that the team had committed lady volunteers Felsy, Sushila and Sarah who reached out to the needy. They never refused a call for help. Everyone was important. They made sure that no one who approached them, would go hungry.
Sharing their experiences, the volunteers spoke about the feedback they got from the beneficiaries. “I can’t express how thankful I am for your kindness. It’s a blessing to have people like you all who are working day and night for the society who are in dire need now,” wrote one. Another one was, “From healthy to yummy, thanks for the food. I was really unable to cook due to my health. The service had helped me a lot. Your team is doing a great job. May God reward you.”
Volunteer Shaji was very expressive when he said that, “When I gave good packet, the expression in the face was as though I was giving a packet of Rs 1 lakh. This is putting fire in the minds of the youth”. Major Thomas who joined us as a volunteer said that, “This was the most satisfying thing I could do in the Covid times.” Fr. Praveen who volunteered at the East Kitchen every day said “When I do for them, it was for God.”
The same set of volunteers were involved with the Project Pranavayu, taking the 30 Oxygen Concentrators to the families of the patients. Many of them were also involved with the distribution of about 10,000 Survival Ration Kits to the most vulnerable groups, which included the tribal hamlets in MM Hills.
Disasters have become part of our life. Every community needs to build up its resilience to deal with it. The 60+ volunteers who were part of the food at the doorstep programme were asked whether they were ready to volunteer in the event of any further disasters. Everyone was ready. “Through this programme, we have created a group of young committed volunteers who are available anywhere, anytime. A certificate signed by all CoronaCare Bengaluru agencies for each volunteer has sealed this commitment,” he concluded.
By Fr George Kannanthanam CMF
