Posts tagged Food Relief
Mid-day meals nourish 1.2m underprivileged children
30 April 2012
Government of India’s flagship project, ‘Mid-day meals’ continues to nourish more and more underprivileged children, now benefiting approximately 12,00,000 children in India. This is in view of a recent ‘Hunger and Malnutrition’ survey that puts the number of malnourished children in the country at 42 per cent.
Mumbai: Mid-day meal is a strategic program to liberate the underprivileged children from scourge of hunger and malnutrition, this program is a project of the Government of India, and is being implemented by ISKCON Food Relief Foundation under the brand name of ANNAMRITA in selected schools in Delhi, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Uttaranchal, Jharkhand and Assam.
ISKCON Food Relief Foundation is a non-profit, non-religious, non-sectarian charitable trust. This project is being implemented in Government aided, and municipal schools for the benefit of underprivileged children. It is done without any commercial motive and the benefits are available to students at large without any discrimination on grounds of religion, caste, creed or sex.
Since the launch in 2004, state-of-the-art kitchens in the above mentioned states have been set up. As of now, the scheme caters approximately 12,00,000 children every day from our centres in Mira Bhayander, Palghar, Nigdi, Tardeo, Juhu, Wada, Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida, Kurukshetra, Palwal, Tirupati, Nellore, Rajahmundry, Kadapa, Ranga Nara Gadda, Vishakhapatnam, Jaipur, Guwahati, Panipat, Haridwar, Jamshedpur and Ujjain.
Most of these children come from slums and tribal areas. The purpose of implementing this scheme is to facilitate the Government in increasing the enrollment in these schools, reducing the drop out rate, and improving the attendance. Also as these are the formative years for the future adult, therefore nutrition is of prime importance.
Corporate bodies such as Accenture, Piramal Group, Reliance Industries, Sterlite, Apar Industries, Mafatlal Industries, Yash Birla Group, Glaxo Smith Kline, DSP Merill Lynch, JSW Group, Godrej, HDFC, Raymonds have been kind enough to support the program with their benevolence. Individuals such as Mr. Alfred Ford of the Ford Motor Company, Late Shri Sunil Dutt, Smt. Indu Jain have given their unstinted support to bring the program to the present level.
With a generous contribution, for the cause of the underprivileged children in India, ISKON foundation hopes to maximise the capacity of this program by setting up more kitchens to cater to more schools and increase the number of beneficiaries many folds.
The professionally managed Mid-day meal program has trained cooks, who use the most advanced technology in cooking under hygienic conditions using fresh and pure ingredients.
The meals are packed and sealed in specially designed stainless steel containers and are transported in vehicles most suited for the logistics. Cooked in the most cost-effective manner, the nutritious, sumptuous and sanctified meal consists of different menus such as khichadi (a mix of rice, dal and vegetables, cooked in pure ghee with spices and tomatoes), Chapati, Subji, Rice Sambar, etc according to local tastes.
Foundation caters to over 2,75,000 children in Maharashtra daily .
The cost of providing food for 1 child for 1 entire year is just Rs 900
Recently ISKCON Food Relief Foundation participated in the first ever Lifebuoy National Child Health Symposium and Awards. Out of the hundreds of entries received ISKCON Food Relief Foundation was awarded as a leading organisation in the sphere of child health with an outstanding contribution in the area of nutrition.
SOURCE: ONEWORLD South Asia
Fiji Flood victims get help from FFL
Apr 5th
Fiji Islands April 5, 2012
Report by Bir Krishna Goswami
Tens of thousands have been forced from their homes.
A major disaster has just hit the Fiji Islands, in the South Pacific. Torrential rains lasting over a week have caused the worst flooding in the history of the nation. Major rivers have over flooded their banks burying towns along with the their business and residential districts.
Many people were trapped on their rooftops and had to be rescued by helicopters or boats. People lost their lives in the unexpecteded calamity that occured while they were still sleeping in their beds.
Over 25,000 people lost their homes, Approximately 100,000 are without adequate food, water, or clothing. Over 5,000 businesses have lost everything; their stock, their stores, their furniture and will be without any income. The infrastructure (roads,electricity, water supply) is in shambles. Crops are completely damaged. Food is hard to come by and when it is available it is too expensive for most people to afford.
Hare Krishna Food for Life, the world’s largest Vegetarian relief organization has mobilized their resources to feed, and clothe tens of thousands of people. So far over 15,000 people are being fed by the volunteers of this organization. Many people are stepping forward to provide foodstuffs for Food for Life to cook hot meals for the homeless, and clothes to replace the clothes that were destroyed by the floods.
Food for Life can help more people, but their need more resources in the form of foodstuffs, clothes, bedding, medical supplie school supplies, or money.
HOW TO HELP
If you are interested in helping the situation by volunteering or providing any of these necessities contact: Dr. Rajesh Maharaj (Food for Life Fiji Coordinator) at:
Telephone +679 (country code) 992 6349.
Or International Food Life Coordinator BK Goswami at: bkgoswami@earthlink.net
Tax deductible donations can also be directed to Food for Life Global who will be supporting relief efforts. DONATE NOW
FFL in Ecuador
Mar 5th
FFL Ecuador team serving pure food
January 2012 – Winter season came to Ecuador bringing torrential rains and suffocating waves of heat. However, the radical weather patterns were not enough to deter the FFL volunteers from Guayaquil, Ecuador. Taking time out from their busy family lives and business, the volunteers consistently devote time to the service others.
Over 500 people were waiting in the town of El Consuelo to experience the prasadam from Food for Life. The journey there from the FFL kitchen in Guayaquil takes almost two hours. Nonetheless, the volunteers enjoyed the spectacular scenery, watching the dramatic landscapes unfold before them, bedecked with flowers of all colors and lush green vegetation responding to the winter rainfalls. The journey took a little longer than anticipated and so some of the families went home. However, the FFL team immediately went to community leaders to announce from house to house of their arrival. Making use of the bells of a beautiful church, a large crowd once again gathered for lunch! Buckets of delicious vegan rice and lentil stew, pastries and herbal teas were being passed children and adults. The smiles and words of praise kept coming and mental images will last in our memory forever.
The following week, hundreds of others were the beneficiaries of a traditional vegan rice and lentil stew, fried sweets, and aromatic teas, prepared just hours before by a group of enthusiastic FFL volunteers.
Many members of the community and of other organisations join the FFL Ecuador team each week for the experience of distributing free vegan lunches. Some weeks, due to budget constraints, the FFL Ecuador team is only able to feed 300 people, but the joy of helping even a few people with a warm plate of food prepared with love is amazing! Our small gesture of kindness, melts the hearts of everyone and soon their love comes back to use in the form of hugs, laughter and finally running after our car as we try to leave!
Recently, the Addictions Rehabilitation Centre (ACE prison) was chosen as the place to serve our vegan meals. With the help of volunteer Jimmy Cassinelli, we were welcomed by the authorities and inmates of the place. This time, FFL cooks made a special menu of delicious fried rice with an equally rich chili sauce and aromatic drinks. At least 50 inmates enjoyed the experience of pure food made with love.
Information for this report and photos provided by Gopi Gandharvica
FFL Volunteers
To learn more about FFL in Ecuador, see their blog
A Food for Life Hero
Sep 20th
Mahasringha Das is a legend in many parts of the world, especially in the villages surrounding Mayapur in India, where he has been cooking and serving hundreds of thousands of impoverished Bengali’s for 17 years. I have known Mahasringha for 18 years when I first came across him in Poland. He was a legend then, cooking a feast for 400 people in a kitchen one could barely stand in and then serving the delicious meal to hungry people on the streets of Warsaw. To my amazement, as soon as he completed this monumentus task day in day out, he would throw a bag over his shoulder containing Indian scripture and would spend the next 3 hours sharing what he had read that morning.
A few years later he found himself in India. His apartment kitchen was replaced by a hole in the ground and his spice rack by the fresh herbs and spices growing in the forests where he worked. Hauling huge cast iron woks onto these holes he would start a wood fire and cook what the village people considered, “Food of the Gods.”
Over time, he trained the men, women and children to assist him in the cooking so that together they could feed more and more people. It was not uncommon for thousands to gather to experience these free vegetarian feasts. Following the tradition, Maha would encourage the Bengali villagers to sing with him before and after the feast, transforming the once sedate village scene into a veritable festival of food and dance.
Mahasringha couldn’t contain his enthusiasm to share the love in his heart, so for 3 – 4 months of the year he would travel outside of India to Europe, Middle East, USA and Canada sharing the culture of spiritual hospitality he had become so famous for. It is during these times that his wife takes over the food distribution to the villages. This summer he visited Israel where one observer believes that he is a saint among men. Here is her story:
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This week, a long cherished dream of mine come true. I met a holy man!
I always believed that holy men still existed in this world, but wondered, amongst all the noise and claims of divinity, if I would ever find one. The fact is, there are not many and are often invisible to ordinary people. So most people never see them, what to speak of envy them.
However, I came to hear of one such holy man walking amongst us.
Eight years ago my husband became acquainted with a man called Mahasringha who lives in the holy city of Mayapur, India.
Originally from Poland, Mahasringha moved to Mayapur, with his wife Apavrita and their daughter Radha 17 years ago. For the last 25 years Mahasringha and his wife have lived a renounced life of selfless community service for the pleasure of God. With the rise of materialism in their country, they decided that the best place to raise their daughter would be far away from the glittering superficialities of the West and so they moved to India.
Mayapur is considered one of the principle holy places in India. It is the birthplace of the Golden Avatar – Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who advented some 500 years ago.
Few on Earth know about the Golden Avatar. He came not as a king or a warrior…He came as a devotee of Lord Krishna. According to Vedic scholars, his arrival marked the establishment of a new Golden Age. Sri Chaitanya’s mission was to propagate that the most effective means for self realisation in these times was to chant the holy names of God and to share sanctified foods.
Mahasringha visited our family in Israel. By the grace of God, we were able to witness this man’s magnificent devotion to the people of this world and his devotion to Sri Chaitanya. He is by far, the most wonderful person I have ever met in my life! Without a single drop of pretence, he offers himself fully to those in need of food, medical care or spiritual counselling.
All the qualities one would imagine in a saintly person are present in him — righteousness, charity, persistent confession of faith, deep mediation on God, humility and enthusiasm to serve.
In Christianity, there is the example of the pious and virtuous man who even after his death, continues to pray for all people living on earth.
In Islam, the Saints are called Avliya. Avliya – the plural of the word “Wali” is used to mean “Patron”, or “Holy.” Avliya – in Arabic means “close to God.” These are people who perform all their days in constant prayer, leading a righteous life, avoiding the commission of sins, perfecting their inner world by a constant remembrance of Allah.
Such people are mentioned in the Qur’an: “Absolutely, GOD’s allies have nothing to fear, nor will they grieve. They are those who believe and lead a righteous life. For them, joy and happiness in this world, as well as in the Hereafter. This is GOD’s unchangeable law. Such is the greatest triumph.” (10: 62-64).
Similarly, Lord Sri Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita of His pure devotees: “One who is not envious but is a kind friend to all living entities, who does not think himself a proprietor and is free from false ego, who is equal in both happiness and distress, who is tolerant, always satisfied, self-controlled, and engaged in devotional service with determination, his mind and intelligence fixed on Me — such a devotee of Mine is very dear to Me.” (BG. 12.14)
A perfect life – is a life wherein one devotes all their time to the service of God and the upliftment of others. The Bhagavad Gita declares: “In the stage of perfection called trance, or samādhi, one’s mind is completely restrained from material mental activities by practice of yoga. This perfection is characterized by one’s ability to see the self by the pure mind and to relish and rejoice in the self. In that joyous state, one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness, realized through transcendental senses. Established thus, one never departs from the truth, and upon gaining this he thinks there is no greater gain. Being situated in such a position, one is never shaken, even in the midst of greatest difficulty. This indeed is actual freedom from all miseries arising from material contact. (BG. 6.20-23)
We asked Mahasringha how many people he has personally served over the last 25 years. With a shrug of his shoulders, “about 3,500,000,” he told us.
HELP HIM
If you would like to support Mahasringha’s work around the world, please donate via Food for Life Global.
Food for Life in Ecuador
Aug 24th
Food for Life volunteers have served hot vegetarian meals to school children and impoverished families for over 20 years in this South American country.
Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border with Brazil. The country also includes the Galápagos Islands in the Pacific, about 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) west of the mainland.
Recently, the FFL team visited some villages in Ecuador, where eager people waited patiently under tents to protect themselves from the blazing sun. As soon as the FFL van arrived, an announcement of their arrival went out over the public speaker system. The local neighbourhood church groups wearing yellow shirts, similar to FFL volunteers, began organising the gathering crowds and helping to set up distribution.
While working under the hot tents, FFL volunteers perspired heavily serving the delicious lunch. However, “The satisfaction was reflected on the faces of everyone,” explains, volunteer Ekatma Das. ”The people were so touched that we had gone out of our way to come to them with such delicious food. One lady told me, ‘We thought that no one cared anymore. Now we know differently. Thank you so much.’”
Food for Life served hot rice with dhal, fried sweet dumplings and an aromatic vegetable curry.
Ecuador Food for Life web site blog
(Photos: Gabriela)
