Coimbatore corporation, NGOs do their bit one meal at a time

Nivedha Selvam | TNN | Updated: Apr 6, 2020, 10:18 IST

The Emergency Food Response Team, a joint effort of the Coimbatore corporation and about a dozen organisations distributes food to people struggling for essentials

The Emergency Food Response Team, a joint effort of the Coimbatore corporation and about a dozen organisations...Read More

COIMBATORE: The helpline number of Emergency Food Response Team of the Coimbatore corporation hardly stops ringing. Moments after a call on Sunday afternoon informing about a group of people stranded without food in Malumichampatti, volunteers spring into action.
In two hours, a van carrying packets of food rushes to the spot to distribute them to the needy waiting for their first meal of the day. The Emergency Food Response Team (EFRT), a joint effort of the city corporation and about a dozen organisations including No Food Waste, C4TN (Coimbatore for Tamil Nadu) and the district catering association, has been feeding 15,000 people every day since the lockdown.
The EFRT has identified about 50 hunger spots in the city, where more number of homeless, guest workers and destitutes are found. While some of these hunger spots are static, others are dynamic - it changes from day to day. Though other civic bodies in the state have also come up with similar distress mitigation efforts along with NGOs, the EFRT has come up with a more structured model to help those hit most by the lockdown.
While the city corporation's role is coordinating, helping with logistics and facilitiating flow of funds and provisions, the volunteers attend the distress calls, reaching out to patrons, rope in professional cooks and ensure quality of food. The menu includes variety rice, dosa, chapati while sometimes coffee, tea and snacks are also given. Nine vehicles and 18 people are used for distribution. EFRT provides one-time meal for 12,000 people and twice for 3,000 people.
"When the community kitchens were set up about 10 days ago, we had received more than 700 calls per day. As we had promised to provide food to the callers on a daily basis, the number of calls has come down to 250-300. More than 50% of the callers are from daily wage workers especially from slum areas in the city and 30% of them are senior citizens," said Bala, a volunteer.
EFRT says it has served 1.12 lakh plates of food till Sunday since March 25. On an average, the team has been serving about 15,000 plates every day and on Sunday the numbers spiked to 21,990 plates.