On Gandhi Jayanthi Day, the Dawoodi Bohra community in Chennai launched the Zero Hunger Squad (ZHS) and began a drive to feed the hungry in the city.
They set up a mobile kiosk near the Stanley Medical College and Hospital, and started distributing food packets.
Juzer Rangoonwala, a coordinator of ZHS and Project Rise Chapter in Chennai, said they initially started this in a small way during the lockdown and then continued giving away 200-250 food packets a day from April till June. “Our volunteers, who went to the field, told us about how desperate and starved people were then. We decided to go ahead with the drive for those three months. Now, we want to continue doing it and have set up this mobile kiosk,” he said.
The food is cooked in two community kitchens at Parry’s Corner and nearly 50 volunteers distribute them.
Mobile kiosks will be extended to other areas like Royapuram and Parrys soon. “One clear instruction given to volunteers is to step in only after wearing a mask and gloves. We also ask them to ensure that those who come to collect the packets stand at an adequate distance from each other,” he added.