By Lissy Maruthanakuzhy
Panaji: A food bank for the poor was opened October 19 at the Church Square in Panaji, capital of Goa.
“The pandemic has been difficult on all of us and even after businesses are slowly getting back on track, these people are still left to beg for their daily meal,” says Rinton D’Souza, who initiated this project.
D’Souza said he was inspired by the social media posts of similar initiatives in Mumbai to feed the homeless during the pandemic.
“I sought help on social media and immediately received responses from a few friends who wanted to be a part of this initiative,” he told Matters India.
In his Facebook post D’Souza thanked the Panaji Mayor Uday Madkaikar, who provided the fridge and Anees Shaik who helped install the fridge at his shop in the city.
Explaining how he will carry on the mission D’Souza said, “We plan to spread the word via fliers explaining about this free food bank among most of the homeless people around Azad Maidan and Garcia De Orta area. Through this we hope we will be able to inform the homeless about the operating hours of the fridge between 10 am and 9 pm.”
Regarding the stock of food he said, “We will personally approach the restaurants in the vicinity asking their support in providing their extra food at the end of the day. The public is encouraged to deposit edible food—water, milk, fruits in disposable containers in the fridge.”
While requesting the public to be helpful he reminded about providing edible and fresh food items.