A saviour for the poor & hungry

Hyderabad: 'Dream bigger, do bigger' is what a city youth, Malleshwar Rao, 26, believes in and renders humane service to the abandoned or the needy on roads. He collects leftover food from parties and restaurants and distributes among them. For the purpose, he has even launched a 'Don't Waste Food' campaign, which is being run since 2012 on social media.

Malleshwar Rao, a resident of Madhura Nagar, has over the last 7 years gathered an army of more than 1,500 active volunteers. They set about the city, looking for events where they might be able to collect leftover food. The social media has made their job a lot easier now.

On a daily basis, Rao feeds around 2,000 people. They also cater to alleviate the hunger pangs of poor attendants of patients at hospitals like Osmania Hospital, Gandhi Hospital and Niloufer Hospital.

Speaking to The Hans India, Malleshwar Rao, a freelance director, said, "We have a Facebook group through which people contact me and leave messages for us to meet them and collect food from a particular location. That makes it a lot easier for us to operate. We get calls from restaurants, private events and functions, and even from individuals who wish to donate food after late-night parties in their homes. We personally taste the food and then give it to the people starving for food on the roads."

When asked how he manages all this by himself, Rao said, "On weekends, there are many from the IT sector who come and volunteer. If there is no one, then I set out with the food all by myself." Rao has also received several awards like Indian Youth Icon Award 2018, and Rashtriya Gaurav Award 2019.

His Journey

Malleshwar hails from Nizamabad and was born in a family which did not have financial means to support his education. He had to spend his early years as a child labourer.

A chance meeting with social reformer Hemalatha Lavanam changed his his fortunes. Rao said, "She picked me up from the streets and provided me with education – it was that push that changed my life."

Rao spent the rest of his educational years at Samskar Ashram Vidyalayam, an institution that was co-founded by Hemalatha and her husband. "I was there with her until her death in 2008." "Once I left school, I took up a job in an ashram that took care of TB patients. It also helped stabilise the financial condition of my family," said Rao.

After working at the ashram for a while, he took up a job in a catering business, and it was here that he saw huge quantities of food getting wasted. "When I had just moved to Hyderabad, I remember sleeping on the platform with not a morsel in my stomach. I did not have the money then to buy any food and that memory is very fresh in my mind," he shares.