‘Erode Siragukal’ trust is on a mission to serve the needy 365 days a year
The Hindu
Erode Siragukal, a registered trust, serves hot idlis with kuruma to over 200 people daily outside the Government Headquarters Hospital. Ensures no one sleeps on an empty stomach. They accept surplus food donations and can be contacted at 97866-69999.
“Nobody should go to sleep empty stomach”, says K.K. Vimal Karuppannan, president of Erode Siragukal, a registered trust that has been providing dinner to over 200 people outside the Government Headquarters Hospital in Erode for the past 112 days.
The trust with over 50 volunteers initially focused on protecting environment, planting trees and relocating withered trees. “In the last five years, we started focussing on food waste management. We collected food leftovers from marriage halls, meetings, birthday parties and distributed them to people in slums, outside government hospitals, alm-seekers and passengers near the bus stand,“ he says.
“After visiting Erode GH and other public places in the city during night hours, our volunteers realised that attenders of patients, daily wagers, security guards , drivers, alm seekers and a few others were going without food. We saw people from rural and hilly areas, who come to the hospital, do not have money to buy food and sleep on empty stomach,” says trust secretary C.S. Sivakumar.
It is then that the trust came up with a new scheme of providing food to the needy 365 days a year, and named it “Annavasal”. A kitchen was established and a five-member team prepares food and transports it to a spot outside the GH. Members serve the food to the needy who stand in queue and collect it in their own plates and vessels. Between 6.30 p.m. and 7.30 p.m., the members serve hot idli and kuruma to people outside the hospital everyday.
“We do not serve food in paper plates, areca leaf plates or plastic bags as they are disposed of on the roads,” says Mr. Vimal, who adds that support from trust members, friends and philanthropists had made the mission possible. “We want to feed people throughout the year,” he said.
Mr. Sivakumar, who is also the scheme in-charge, said that people in 20-km radius of Erode city could contact the trust if they have surplus food that is fit for consumption. The members will collect it from them and distribute it to the needy. The trust can be contacted at 97866-69999.
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