‘Helping Spot Organisation’ keeping the Covid-hit healthy and nutritious
Hyderabad: Covid-19 is one disease that leaves almost everyone helpless. Apart from not being able to cook food, the contagious nature of the virus makes it impossible for people to help the affected with food or other necessities.
In such testing times, doing their crucial bit is Hyderabad-based NGO Helping Spot Organisation. For the last 15 days, they have been serving free food to over 100 Covid patients.
“We started this service 15 days ago serving 60 meals a day and over the last one week, it has grown to serving 138 people a day. We have two kitchens, one in Miyapur and the other in Shamirpet, where the cooking is done and we have IT employees volunteering to deliver the food to patients. The delivery volunteers are giving four hours of their time every day,” says Bhargav Ventrapragada, the one behind the initiative.
According to Bhargav, they are providing mainly to senior citizens across the city and on the outskirts. “Many senior citizens are isolated in their homes after testing positive. That is also the reason we ensure our food is oil and spice free and is balanced nutritionally. We serve rice, two curries and dal in each meal,” he says, adding that they were not asking for test reports, though many were sending voluntarily. “We are completely relying on trust,” he says.
Their kitchen at Shamirpet is located on a farm where vegetables are grown organically. The lunch is delivered before 1.30 pm and dinner is delivered before 9.30 pm. “Owing to the night curfew, we have requested the police to let our volunteers deliver the food after 9 pm and have received support from them as well,” he adds.
As of now, the initiative is being funded entirely by themselves and volunteers are paying for the delivery by themselves and they don’t charge a single penny from the recipients.
“So far, it is costing us about Rs. 12,000 a day and we are meeting the expenses from our savings. If someone wants to contribute, we request them to give us provisions directly as we don’t have the resources needed to go out and procure provisions also, as we are all involved in either cooking or delivery. In fact, my wife Uma Maheshwari has been handling the kitchen at Miyapur, cooking all by herself,” says Bhargav.
Bhargav and his team can be reached on 88866 86000 if you have a requirement or if you want to contribute.
Now you can get handpicked stories from Telangana Today on Telegram everyday. Click the link to subscribe.
Click to follow Telangana Today Facebook page and Twitter .
