Karuthal, launched by Together We Can, places ‘food boxes’ at strategic locations enabling the needy to access food for free. The initiative is active in 10 dists, reports Anu Kuruvilla
Published: 31st July 2022 06:32 AM | Last Updated: 31st July 2022 06:32 AM | A+ A A-
The members of the Together We Can initiative
ERNAKULAM: Ven before the Covid outbreak, the activists of Together We Can — the women’s wing of the NGO I Am Not Alone — had hit upon an idea to feed the hungry for free. They placed a ‘lunch box’ made of cardboard in front of the Vimala College in Thrissur.
“The box soon filled up with the food parcels the students had brought from their homes. These packets were available for anyone,” recalls Thanha Sabeena, a member of the organisation. That was the start of an initiative called ‘Karuthal’ that has grown over the past couple of years.
“More than 75 women are now collectively engaged in feeding the hungry,” says Ragi Rajan, the office administrator of the NGO registered six years ago to help differently-abled and bedridden persons find means to livelihood. The success of the initiative led the activists to implement the idea elsewhere too, says Thanha. Then they placed a food box at the High Court Junction in Ernakulam, on November 7, 2020. And now, Ernakulam district alone has ‘Karuthal’ food boxes at 13 locations. “The initiative has a presence in 10 districts, each having at least 10 such food boxes in different areas,” points out Thanha, who works at a hospital.
Initially, the lunch boxes had a capacity to contain 30 food packets. Now they have started kitchens in all districts. “These kitchens are operated by women from financially-backward families. It thus becomes a means of earning a livelihood for these women too,” she says. As to the people who benefit from the lunch boxes, Ragi says, “We have seen that not only the destitute living on the streets but poor patients, daily wagers and the unemployed searching for jobs too access food from the lunch boxes.”
The boxes are placed at busy locations where somebody will always be available to monitor the situation. “This prevents antisocial elements from stealing or destroying these boxes. The usual locations include the entrances to government offices, police stations, police aid posts etc. Boxes are also placed at the gates of private institutions with their permission. Our aim is to set up a total of 1,000 lunch boxes across Kerala,” Ragi says.
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