Appala Konda, a senior citizen, often suffers hunger-induced headache. She goes to work as a helper in a private organisation on an empty stomach as she could hardly afford a square meal a day.
However, the new kitchen facility at Ashraya Homeless Shelter, where she returns to after a long tiring day of work, for dinner and a good night’s rest offers a glimmer of hope.
Similarly, for 60-year-old Satyavati, her hunt for venues that provide free breakfast and lunch has come to an end. “Now we have a kitchen at the shelter where food can be prepared and served three times a day,” she beams, waving her fragile hand.
There are many in the city for whom the Ashraya Homeless Shelter at the TSR complex has become a big boon.
Nutritious breakfast
With the launch of the community kitchen in the premises on Monday, the menu now includes breakfast and lunch too. “Earlier, the GVMC-run night shelter was only providing dinner by partnering with the Akshaya Patra Foundation. With the introduction of the community kitchen, we can now serve nutritious breakfast and lunch to about 140 inmates of three shelters located in the TSR complex and Bhimnagar,” says Pragada Srinivasu, secretary of the Association for Urban and Tribal Development.
Project director of tUrban Community Development T. Srinivasan said that four more shelters at Kancharapalem, Gajuwaka, Anakapalle and near Simhachalam would be set up in the next few months.
“Currently, we have six shelters catering to the basic requirement of the needy in the city and the upcoming shelters aim to take care of those located in interior areas,” he said.
Inspecting the kitchen, Zone III Commissioner V. Chakradhara Rao explained that apart from GVMC’s contribution, catering to the destitute population would be more effective if companies came forward to extend support through CSR initiatives along with other stakeholders, including NGOs.
The community kitchen was developed with the support of Vizag Smiles, an NGO that caters to the destitute population. “We contributed to the setting up of the community kitchen to mark the first anniversary of Vizag Smiles. In addition to this, we would be donating funds to meet the operational and maintenance costs of the kitchen,” stated Rajendra, a volunteer of Vizag Smiles. Later, a cheque for ₹10,000 was handed over to the GVMC officials by the volunteers of the NGO to meet the expenses.
Mr. Srinivasu added that employees of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, retired SBH employees and other donors would chip in to lend support to the endeavour.
