Helping keep hunger pangs at bay

Banjara Hills: They call their foundation Seeds of Hope. A group of friends – Apoorva, Navneeth, Madhuri, Sindhu, Uma Karteek and Dr Amulya Deeconda – is sparing no efforts to realise the vow they have taken to provide at least one decent meal per day for the needy.

1. Seeds of Hope provides 150 people with hot packs of meals a day
2. It has also distributed benches worth Rs 2 lakh to govt school
3. Help was also extended to handloom weavers and 41 poor families given 50kg rice bag and 4 kg dal packets.
4. It also adopted 35 families and old people and widows in Kappaladoddi village in Andhra Pradesh
5. It urges like-minded people to donate 10 packs or Rs 80 in cash on occasions like birthdays

Speaking of their journey, Dr Amulya Deeconda, who is with New You Hospital, says, "A few years ago while returning home, I saw an old man weeping. I stopped and found out that he was hungry and had no money to go home. I helped him but the incident had a bearing on me and it stayed on. I shared it with my friends and they readily agreed to pitch in and that is how the initiative started."

That was in 2015. Today, Seeds of Hope Foundation helps 150 people in the city with a hot pack of meals. The food packets are distributed at different places like hospitals, bus stops and street corners.

"We give them lemon rice and curd rice. The food packets are made by Raju Catering. He takes care of sourcing ingredients and he delivers the food packets daily by 12-12:30 pm, and for each packet he will charge Rs 8. And we talk to people and try to motivate them to donate 10 packets of food or Rs 80 on birthdays," says Dr Amulya.

The Facebook page also gets a lot of likes and people contribute. Till date, the foundation has also distributed benches worth Rs 2 lakh for government schools in Karimnagar in Chandurthi village. Help was also extended to handloom weavers and 41 poor families were given 50kg rice bag and 4 kg dal packets. People in Baghligampally in Pallamuru basti were also given rice bags.

The Seeds of Hope Foundation team adopted 35 families and old people and widows of Kappaladoddi village in Andhra Pradesh and giving them basic necessities like rice and pulses.

Navneet, a member, said, "We are providing a platform to women from rural areas through a new initiative 'Mana Murukulu' to create income earning opportunity for the rural women this foundation brings orders to these rural women in this Mana Murukulu they sell products like sakinalu, laddus, murkulu, and pickles etc."