The busy port city of Kochi in Kerala has generated hope for the homeless. In a unique initiative, PappadaVada, a restaurant in Kochi has come up with an idea to feed the poor. The restaurant has installed a public fridge where people can leave food for the underprivileged. Homeless and needy people can help themselves to the products in the refrigerator at any time of the day.
The restaurant has named the fridge as ‘Nanma Maram’, which can be loosely translated into the ‘Tree of Goodness’. Located at KaloorKathrikadavu road in Kochi, it will work at all times, throughout the year. Everybody has access to the fridge whether to take food or to deposit it for the needy. Even the restaurant contributes 50 food packets daily to the fridge so that no one goes back empty handed. Anyone who cannot afford to buy food can partake the meal in the fridge. The restaurant bears the entire cost and operation of the fridge.
Ms Minu Pauline, the owner of the restaurant, came up with this unique idea to reduce wastage of food in urban areas and educate people to share a meal with the less fortunate. After quitting the banking industry, Ms Minu Pauline, started PappadaVada in 2013. She asserts, “Food is a precious gift from nature, and people should not waste it. The sole purpose of this initiative is to give this food that is in excess for some, to those who are less fortunate to buy it.”
PappadaVada is now inviting residents, locals and hotel owners to donate excess food to NanmaMaram. The only condition being that the food should be fresh and neatly packed in clean and sealed containers. Every food packet dropped at NanmaMaram is to be marked with date and time by the restaurant to ensure that stale food is not handed out.
Ms Minu Pauline’s brainchild NanmaMaram is certainly an admirable act of charity which focuses not only on feeding the body but also the soul. It encourages people to not to waste food and share the surplus with the ones who cannot afford a single morsel. This little act of kindness can surely make a big difference.
News Source: Indian Express | TBI
Image Source: Pappadavada/Facebook
