Hunger Heroes bring smiles on faces of poor children

Nikhila Pant Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, September 12

As soon as little children of hutment along the Bathinda-Goniana road see Sanat and Viren, they run towards them and start tugging at the packets, which the duo hold in their hands.

The two then direct the children to stand or sit in a queue and wait for their turn.

Not the ones to give up, the children continue to look at them with their hopeful eyes and outstretched hands.

Since Sanat and Viren are not there to offer monetary help, the elders of the hutment don’t move from their places.

“We are here to give them food and no one cares more about food than children and elderly persons,” they say.

NGO Feeding India has till now fed more than 5,650 persons in Bathinda and the number is increasing every hour.

“The aim of the NGO is to collect extra food from households, functions, hotels and offices and give it for free to the poor and needy. Usually, we either throw the excess food the next day, feed it to stray animals or give it to maids or servants. We collect the food and give it to those who really need it,” says Sanat, city in-charge of the NGO, which started functioning in Bathinda in March.

The NGO is being supported by 10 active volunteers called ‘Hunger Heroes’ or ‘Superheroes’ in Bathinda.

After receiving a ‘donation call’ at any time of the day or night, a volunteer who is close to the location is given the task of collecting the food.

After checking the quality and shelf life of the food by using senses of smell and touch, the volunteer collects the food in casseroles.

Depending on the quantity of the food, the volunteer then distributes the food among those who need it.

All this is done within a time frame of an hour and the entire procedure is uploaded on a tracking system of the NGO, which can even be checked by the donators to make sure that the food has been distributed for free and not sold off.

The volunteers aged between 20 and 35 years are driven by motive of the NGO – to eradicate hunger from the nation.

“The motive of the NGO is to bring an end to hunger, which in a way leads to several other social ills. The smile that the work brings on the faces of children is our remuneration for doing this work,” said Viren, who will resign from his job to work on full-time basis with the NGO.

Sanat, who takes care of his family business, said, “We have full support of our families. We are looking for more volunteers as we have started getting more donations.”

Apart from locating needy people, the volunteers have identified some people whom they provide all three meals.

“There is a couple near Sucha Singh Nagar. They are old and have no one else in their family. Since the man is suffering from some physical disability, we give them all three meals. We also refrain strictly from giving them alms,” Sanat said.