City youths ensure a daily dose of nourishment for kids in lockdown

TNN | May 4, 2020, 04:08 IST

Prayagraj: Ever since the lockdown was announced on March 23, Prayagraj resident Ganeshi Prasad has a new morning routine. Every morning at 7, Prasad rings the bell of the temple of Lord Krishna in Leper’s Colony. Within minutes, scores of children assemble at the temple and sit in lines obediently, while following social distancing. Their eager experessions are soon replaced with grins as as they get hold of their treat for the day — a packet of milk and some bread.
The kids’ smiles are something that would make anyone’s day, including Prasad’s and are a courtesy of the efforts of a local NGO ‘My Heart’.
The organisation’s volunteers go around the city distributing milk and bread among poor and homeless children so that they do not go hungry because of the lockdown.
“Our team comprises around 35 volunteers and eight of us go around distributing the food items. The rest of the team is involved with other chores like packaging,” said Faraz Ahamad, who is carrying on with the cause despite observing a roza during Ramzan.
The volunteers start as early as 5am every day and a team of three sets out on a two-wheeler towards Meerapur locality. They pick up over 150 bread packets and then go to a Katra-based dairy to get the milk. The dairy is owned by one of the NGO member’s father.
“As the dairy is owned by a member’s family, we are able to get the milk at a discounted rate. We take 60 litre of milk every day and the owners give us 10 litres extra. The milk is then packed into a half-litre packets for distribution,” said Nitin Dubey, another member of the group.
Next, the team sets out for an orphanage for girls near Swaraj Bhawan, which houses around 40 inmates of different age groups. The remaining packets are distributed among kids in Leper’s Colony near Sangam.
“Barring the 40 girls living in the orphanage, we decided to distribute the packets only among kids below five years of age,” said Ahmad. Once the volunteers reach the colony, the pradhan rings the temple bell, signalling all kids to assemble and receive their packets, he added.
Once in a while, the packets also include biscuits and jam.
The group also has to put up with irked adults in the colony who insist that they too should benefit from the drive. “They say they should also be given free milk and bread otherwise they would not send their kids to the temple,” he added.
“Little do they understand that at this age, kids need nutrition more to grow. However, we give the adults everything which is not distributed on a daily basis to keep them satisfied,” said Saksham, another member of theNGO.