Food For All-
Published in Travelers Times and Wow Hyderabad
There is so much food around, yet food gets wasted. To curtail the humongous food wastage and to ensure the poor and homeless do not go hungry community fridge project was introduced by GHMC (Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation) in collaboration with Apple Home for Orphan Kids under the noble initiative ‘Feed the Need’. Travelers Times in a candid conversation with Hari Chandana Dasari, Zonal Commissioner (West Zone), GHMC and Dr. Neelima Arya the Founder-President of Apple Home for Orphan Kids finds out how they made community fridge a reality in Hyderabad.
There must have been times when we all are worried about what to do with surplus food after an occasion at home, be it a birthday party or a wedding. The extra food used to end up in the waste bin, but not anymore. The community fridges established at thirty-six busy locations in the city and five more fridges set up at four districts- Gadwal, Siddipet, Wanaparthy, Shamshabad, and Mahbubnagar is here to solve the confusion of ‘what to do with extra food’. This initiative is conceptualized and executed by NGO Apple Homes for Orphan Kids and Apple Home Real Need India Foundation in partnership with GHMC is an integral part of the ‘Feed the Need’ campaign undertaken by the Telangana government. Community Fridge is the brainchild of Dr. Neelima Arya who believes, “Nobody deserves to sleep on an empty stomach.” People don’t have to go out of the way to feed the poor, they can just keep the extra food in the fridge that can be easily accessed by those who need it any time of the day.
Dr. Neelima Arya informs that after 18 long years in service wanted to do something that is soul satisfying. She registered the NGO ‘Apple Homes for Orphan Kids’ with the Telangana government and kept doing events under this banner like providing groceries to these children. But her heart was wanting to do something more useful for people, as a person who loves to take up challenges, she thought of establishing community fridges across the city. She believes that food can give more satisfaction to a person than money, so a well-fed person will never demand anything else. She further explains that being a normal person or a CEO it is not possible to feed more than a thousand people and already there are many NGOs providing food to the needy including the Telangana government that provides food under the Annapurna Scheme. However, the food is only available at a specific time and place. That’s when she realized the importance of having a community fridge which will ensure that food is available around the clock. However, keeping a fridge is challenging and started serious research in this field. Her studies yielded that ladies in Chennai and Bangalore had set up a community fridge that did not take off very well and she analyzed what went wrong.
Simultaneously, she scouted for suitable places to set up the refrigerators. Initially, she found it hard to get permission to set up the refrigerators. That’s when she approached GHMC in November 2018. She submitted her proposal to seek a partner for this project. After some hesitation by GHMC who were apprehensive that people might get sick after eating the food donated by some person or brand, they finally agreed to grant permission on January 10th, 2019 to set up community fridges across the city. Thus, the first community fridge came up on 31st January 2019 in front of Shilparamam, a community center in Madhapur. She credits Hari Chandana Dasari, Zonal Commissioner (West Zone), GHMC for her incessant support in pushing the project forward. The logo of the community fridge project also known as Apple Fridge was inaugurated by Kalash Jewel’s representative Mr. Srinivas. Similarly, there have been many generous organizations that have supported the cause such as one that was set up at Mahavir Hospital road beside the airport bus stop at AC Guard was supported by ADP India.
On 31st January 2020, the community fridge project will complete a year in Hyderabad and in the last few remaining days of this year she is trying to find 60 donors for the fridge so that she can finally establish a hundred fridges to declare Telangana a ‘hunger-free state’. She has extended this facility to the districts as well.
Hari Chandana Dasari when asked about the inspiration to start this project she mentions, “Our hon’ble CM believes in the concept of no one going hungry. So, we started five-rupee meals for the poor called Annapurna four years back. Last year we started noticing that lots of fresh food are wasted by hotels n homes. Food wastage Is about 22% in Hyderabad. So, we realized there is a need to preserve this food and encourage it not being wasted. Food stays good up to two days in a fridge and can be picked up by anyone who’s hungry or in need. So now we have a network of 40 fridges. 35 are being maintained by Apple Home NGO and five by Agha Khan Trust.”
There is a keeper for every fridge who supervises the food quality and cleans the fridge regularly. There is an active WhatsApp group ‘Feed the Need’ to supervise whether the fridges are cleaned and maintained regularly. Dr. Neelima mentions, “Sometimes when the temperature outside gets higher, she has to ensure the fridge is getting proper cooling. If there is trouble with it the keepers inform us immediately and we arrange it to get it rectified immediately. Since there is a tendency of foul play by the public to steal tube lights, we have to replace them to ensure the kiosk is well lit.” Proper instructions are given on the fridge which states that vegetarian and non-vegetarian food has to be kept separately and should be packed in small units. The expiry date of each food that should be mentioned on the package are some of the rules mentioned on a sticker placed on the fridge. However, sometimes instructions are not followed thus Dr. Neelima is working with the Traffic Commissioner to ensure that fridges which will soon come up at new locations are close to the surveillance cameras to ease supervision and amplify the security.
Hari Chandana informs, “The app ‘Feed the Need’ is developed to trace the nearest fridge which is available on Play Store currently.” She further adds that while Apple Home NGO and Aga Khan Trust maintain the fridge regularly and inspect the food periodically, there are GHMC food inspectors who check the fridge occasionally. The electricity round the clock is provided by the GHMC.
Dr. Neelima informs, “Since the fridges are kept at railway stations, hospitals, community centers, bus stations there are a lot of housekeeping people, laborers, daily wagers, cab drivers and people passing by who can pick up food when in need. Since food is moving very fast from the fridge there is hardly any wastage. Thus, there is no food lying in the fridge the entire day. In case, there is something leftover in the fridge more than 24 hours is discarded. Fortunately, there have been no issues with food so far.” The volume of each fridge is 530 liters and fits in a lot of food donated by people mostly. Sometimes, restaurants also donate extra food to the fridge especially in areas with a good number of eateries.
While the community refrigerators are already there Dr. Neelima hopes there will be more people donating food to make it run successfully. She feels that the media plays a pivotal role in spreading awareness regarding the project on the digital platforms and social media. She has also launched two other kiosks titled ‘She Need’ in the city in partnership with GHMC to promote good health and hygiene for women. There is a vending machine that dispenses free sanitary napkin for underprivileged women. This initiative is based on the idea ‘A Healthy woman makes a healthy society.” Apart from launching her NGO Apple Homes for Orphan Kids in Telangana she has also started a nationwide organization with the central government- Apple Home Real Need India Foundation.
Initially, the plan was to have physically challenged people as keepers who would maintain the fridge, but as they got into the project, they discovered the plan was not feasible. Thus, locals have been appointed as keepers to ensure food quality, hygiene and security apart from maintenance.
In case there is surplus food at your house post a function, they can call the keeper at the number given in the kiosk before coming to donate it. With the festive season around the corner, we can expect there will be more food in the fridge and the needy will not be left out from the celebrations!
When asked about the future for this project Hari Chandana mentioned, “We want to have fridges on the go that would ensure surplus food from restaurants and hotels is not wasted.” While Dr. Neelima wants to establish 100 units in the city and declare Telangana hunger-free before taking the next step.
Dr. Neelima signs off by saying, “The Community fridge project is almost 80% successful and has exceeded my expectations with it opening up in districts. While the She Need project will take three to four months to be successful as it is difficult to break social taboos as women are still shy to collect sanitary napkins publicly.”
