Ahmedabad Kerala Samajam supplies free meals to COVID affected members

Ahmedabad Kerala Samajam has been serving free hot Kerala meals free of cost twice a day (both lunch and dinner) to the COVID quarantined families across Ahmedabad, according to K.M. Ramachandran, President, Ahmedabad Kerala Samajam. The package consists of rice, sambar/moru curry, dry vegetable (Thoran), chutney, pickle and so on.

In the first phase of the pandemic the Samajam had served about 10,000 meals from December 2020 to January 2021, he said.

In the second phase, the free meal scheme kicked off on April 1, 2021 when COVID cases spiked affecting many families. The Samajam is currently supplying over 1,000 meals a day spread across 29 micro areas in Ahmedabad, said  CV Narayanan, General Secretary, Ahmedabad Kerala Samajam.

The Samajam has set up 10 home kitchens and the food is being prepared by families. Volunteers of the Samajam pick up the meals and serve it to the needy. Funds for preparing the meals are offered by Samajam members, well-wishers and other like-minded people. The project is self-sufficient as of now, he said.

Additionally, to extend support to humanity in these times of crisis, Ahmedabad Kerala Samajam has been undertaking various initiatives such as Emergency Ambulance Services, Home Oxygen Services, Elder Care Home Service, 24 x 7 Task force to address and guide on COVID mitigation and physical and mental well-being, distribution of food kits to the economically challenged families, end-to-end facilitation of people stranded in the city and wanting to reach Kerala through trains, and so on, the press release said.

The Ahmedabad Kerala Samajam and its members are strongly committed to serving society to the best extent possible to ensure that COVID is kept at bay.

The Samajam has been offering the meals solely depending on donations from well-wishers and other like-minded people until now. As the daily expenses for meals alone is over Rs.1,00,000, the office-bearers have requested philanthropists, charity activists and business houses to come forward to support the organisation in this initiative. This will go a long way in meeting with Corporate or Individual Social Responsibility, Mr. Ramachandran and Mr. Narayanan said.

Established in 1945, Ahmedabad Kerala Samajam is a socio-cultural organisation representing the Malayalee community in Ahmedabad with over 6,500 families as its life time members. The main objective of the organisation is to boost Kerala tradition and culture amongst the Malayalee population living Ahmedabad and foster a strong bonding with the local populace through various cross-cultural initiatives.

With an objective to nurture talent and facilitate to the best extent possible through its “Navratnas”, the Samajam has been undertaking various activities in the fields of Education, Healthcare, Environment, Humanitarian services, Arts, Sports, Youth Development and Women Empowerment.

The contact number of the office-bearers are KM Ramachandran, President:  +919825010001 and CV Narayanan, General Secretary: +91 94273 10149.

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