Community fridge feeds hungry in Suryapet
Financed and maintained by Municipality, 'Apple Home' helps to cut food waste to serve food-insecure in the town
Suryapet: Community fridge, which was set up in the name of Apple Home by Suryapet Municipality near a new bus stand in the town, was receiving overwhelming response from the people.
Suryapet has a population of 1,15,250 apart from a floating population of approximately 10,000 from the neighbouring villages daily. People from neighbouring villages would daily arrive at the district headquarters for shopping and for the purpose of working in government offices.
Without spending at least Rs 70, they can’t get a meal at hotels in Suryapet. With this, many poor people would return to their villages with empty stomachs as they were unable to spend such money for lunch.
Keeping the situation in mind, Suryapet Municipality has set up a community fridge at new bus stand by spending Rs 2 lakhs in October aiming at providing fresh and free meals to anyone who is hungry.
Individuals and hotel managements can donate the leftover food to the community fridge and so that the poor and hungry people can partake the food they like, free of charge.
Speaking to Telangana Today, Suryapet Municipal Commissioner P Ramanujula Reddy said that the initiative was aimed at bringing happiness on the faces of the underprivileged visitors to and in the town by providing them with leftover food from functions, hotels and restaurants and to ensure no single person sleeps with empty stomach. Not only individuals and hotels, hostels and restaurants in the town are donating food in large quantities, which is enough to 30 to 40 persons to eat every day. It would be higher on the days of marriage season and other functions. Thanks to good Samaritans, says the Municipal Commissioner.
Some of the youth are coming forward to show their humanity by placing bread packets and biscuits in the community fridge by purchasing them from shops to provide the food aid to the hungry. The huge fridge with two glass doors is kept switched on round-the-clock to keep the food items fresh and good to eat, he added.
Cleanliness
Stating that they were also maintaining cleanliness at Apple Home, he informed that municipal workers would visit the Apple Home every four hours and make sure the facility is clean. They would also discard the food item, if any is stale, from the fridge and ensure only healthy food items are available in it.
K Laxmamma, a vegetable vendor beside Apple Home, said the people would come to Apple Home from 12 am to 10 pm and take away the food. The people, who approach the free food facility with hungry, are returning with smiling faces after getting healthy food from it.
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