Feed a grandparent through a community kitchen

Program Update

This program is run to support the poor and lonely elderly in the villages. In June, 273 beneficiaries from 18 villages were provided with kitchen facilities. As of last month (August), the program is run in 19 villages benefitting 288 persons. The program is supported by Give India and Caring Friends. In a month, we provide Rs 1000 to a beneficiary & collect Rs 200 from each so that we can give 60 meals per month which cost Rs 1200. (Rs. 20 per meal). A Self Help Group (SHG) from a village is given an opportunity to operate the overall kitchen activities. In case the SHG is not available, then a separate person from village is assigned to handle the kitchen. A village level committee looks after the quality of the kitchen food & selection of beneficiaries. Along with Kitchen benefits, we also provided walking sticks to 34 kitchen beneficiaries which they needed. In the future, we plan to provide them a tiffin box, walking sticks for support and solar lantern, all of which will be very beneficial for them.

Story from the field

A beneficiary of Community Kitchen Name: Parubai Shahaji Hare Age:- 83 years Village:- Jawalgaon, Block Ambajogai, District Beed, Maharashtra - 431517.

Parubai is a 83 years old widow from Jawalgaon village, from Ambajogai Block of Beed district. She has no land. Her husband was into livestock farming business & his business condition was poor. He was addicted to alcohol, he fell ill and some days later he died. Parubai has two daughters who are married. Both of them live in other nearby villages with their families. She had two sons who died accidently at the age of 16 in an interval of two years. Since her husband sold all farming land to pay loans & other debts, she had no farm land & there was no one to look after her. Previously, she used to work as a labourer to earn money & meet her daily needs. But later on because of her old age, she was not in a condition to engage in any physical work. She was unable to purchase ration or vegetables from the market. Sometimes she used to beg in order to get one meal. She was finding it very difficult to get two meals a day. She was living in a starved condition; as a result, her health condition got very poor. A Self Help Group from the village recommended her name & she became a beneficiary of our community kitchen at the age of 83. But after she has been selected for the kitchen program, she is now getting fresh healthy meals twice a day. As a result of which, her health is better and she is living a normal life. Now she is happy and has got a new hope for living.

Over the last six months, the Trupti kitchen run by Manavlok has been instrumental in serving over 51,500+ meals to more than 275 senior citizens from 13 villages of the Beed and Osmanabad districts of Maharashtra. The aged beneficiaries are delighted by the arrival of festivals, since they mark the departure from monotony, with the addition of special desserts that are served after meals. This year, Puran Pohli, a traditional Maharashtrian sweet was served on the occasion of Holi in all the kitchens covered by this programme.