Bhubaneswar: In India, everyday, around 3,000 children die of hunger or malnutrition and around 19 crore people sleep hungry, despite this we still waste food worth Rs 244 crore everyday.
Indubitably, the 244 crore figure is deplorable economically but if we take into account that recently India was ranked 100 among 119 countries in the Global Hunger Index, then it paints a gloomier picture.
With the aim to ward off the evil of hunger among the poor and put an end to food-wastage, an initiative namely community fridge was started in the capital city October 15, last year.
It may be mentioned here that a community fridge is a refrigerator which is installed in a public space enabling food to be shared within a community. Anyone can put food in and anyone can take food out. The first such practice was started in Germany in 2012 and Spain.
In the capital city here, a community fridge was inaugurated near Sainik School by two voluntary organisations— Bhubaneswar Knights Round Table and Bhubaneswar Queens Ladies Circle.
The motive of the initiative was to eliminate food wastage and feed the hungry community. It was envisaged that the fridge would never go empty and whoever wants to donate the food can donate it directly.
However, during the past one year the fridge, which on the first day of its inauguration was filled with fruits, milk products and other nutritious food, has been remaining empty for most of the time.
The empty fridge not only betrays the lack of awareness of the citizens but it also exposes lack of empathy and plethora of apathy that is deep-rooted in the consciousness of the snob population.
Lamenting over the sorry sight of the empty fridge, Gourav Chawla, Ex-chairman of Bhubaneswar Knights Round Table, said, “It seems that the very purpose has been defeated.”
“Our aim was to avoid any wastage of food products by donating them to the needy ones through the community fridge,” he added.
However, due to lack of donation from outside members, the fridge has remained empty. “Apart from the food that we put in it, which remains for a few hours, the fridge remains vacant for most of the time,” he rued.
Nevertheless, Chawla’s ambition “to feed every hungry mouth” remains undeterred.
“We have planned to start a few more community fridges in other areas such as Bhubaneswar railway station, Patia, Saheed Nagar and Old town. However, presently, we are focusing to improve the situation at this (Sainik School) community fridge,” he said.
Chawla has been trying hammer and tongs to create awareness about the community fridge through social media platform.
Chef Michael of Michael Kitchen’s near Sainik School on whose premises the fridge is installed, said, “It was mostly for our donations that the fridge was having some food. Often, the after-party food which remained unconsumed is donated by us and we don’t have parties here every day. Moreover, this is a collective responsibility.”
“We need more awareness regarding the fridge so that people donate in large quantities throughout the day,” he added.
However, there are many successful stories about community fridges and one such is in Chennai.
City-based philanthropist Ranjan Patel of Myra Charitable Trust who donated food to a community fridge at Besant Nagar and old clothes to Public Foundation, both in Chennai, tried to do his part in eliminating hunger and he succeeded.
In August 2017, the 35-year-old orthodontist opened up the first public fridge called Ayyamittu Unn in Chennai.
Surprisingly, within a matter of months, three other locations in Chennai and one in Bangalore had these community fridges installed, providing free food to at least 400 needy people on a daily basis. Not only food, but the citizens donated books, clothes and other stationery items in these fridges.
Echoing the words of Chef Michael, Patel said, “No individual can solve the world’s problems but perhaps all of us together can do something. I feel what I am doing is just a drop in the ocean but the ocean would be lesser a drop if I don’t do my part.”
In Bhubaneswar, the success of community fridge depends on 24 hour monitoring of the fridge to monitor donations and distribution of the food. In cities like Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai where the community fridge system has been very successful, there are dedicated teams who have been tasked to supervise donations and distribution. “Unfortunately, here in the capital city, due to several constraints, primarily because of money, such manpower is difficult to afford,” Patel added.
I hope there are several like me who aren’t discouraged by the apathy and insensitivity of others, he added.
It may be mentioned here that on Independence Day August 15, city-based Robin Hood Army will conduct a campaign #MissionMillion2018 under which they aim to serve meals to one million needy citizens.
Referring to the campaign, Patel exclaimed, “Hope for a better world never dies!”
Arindam Ganguly, OP
