A Braveheart Woman Is On A Mission This Dusshera – To Feed 1 Lakh People Over 11 Days!

“A small step for a man, and a giant leap for mankind.”  – Neil Armstrong said, when he landed on the moon.

This month, a group of common people in Bangalore fits the note. They might not have got the moon, but their effort is surely a shining star for those hungry souls in the city on this Dussehra. A 34-year old braveheart, Mahita Fernandez and her team is out on a mission, Feed Your Neighbour. This is an aim to feed around 1 lakh people over 11 days that started from Oct 12, Monday.

Where is this headed?

The initiative has already completed a week and by Day 6, they had distributed 44,204 boxes of food to those, who can hardly bear to arrange for their basic meal in a day. The drive will end of October 22.

The FB page with more than 2300 followers and counting, is full of volunteers, donors and people, willing to help and contribute to the mission of eradicating Bangalore’s hunger. This initiative has been appreciated by many and people across the borders as well.

What inspired Mahita is her own conscience?

One night, Mahita woke up with a hungry stomach and was searching for the least bit of food in her house. Suddenly, she realized that she will fortunately find some food to eat now or in a while. But, there are many out there, who will NOT. So, it was a quick call of her soul and she was sure, there are many like her, who will be happy to help.

A dream was conceptualized, a team was made and a roadmap was created for this amazing initiative. The team wanted to reach out to at least 2000 volunteers, who can cook just FIVE extra meals each day.

With small steps at a time, bulk donations of ration started to come in, volunteers gathered for making homemade meals, and then the meals were packed in boxes and distributed among the homeless and hungry people in different parts of the city- in slums, on the streets and others. The dream shaped into reality and it is still on with a long way to go.

What can you do to help?

Check out the FB group for Feed Your Neighbour to join the initiative. You can contact them on the numbers given there to write to them directly for your generous contributions. You can either choose to:

• Volunteer for cooking or distributing packets in an area
• Contribute dry ration like rice, oil, and others (it is better to check the requirement with them first)
• Donate cash in their bank account

People generously poured in every single day to help in their own way. You can check the statistics, heartwarming stories and daily picture updates on their FB page.

‘A small step to fulfil a big dream always leads to a big leap for mankind, and above all, humanity.’ The smiling faces, the full stomach, the happy look and the blessings is surely the ultimate payback.

A big note of thanks to the this amazing team, who had the zeal to come forward to do something like this and to every soul, who contributed in one way or the other, to support the cause. Small things lead to a big change and being part of something big, gives you small moments of happiness in your life, to cherish forever.

This festival, let the essence of happiness and prosperity reach those, who has forgotten its true meaning. Let their tears turn into smiles. You do not have to be great to make a change, you just have TO DO IT.

Have you taken your small step to ensure that they go to bed with a FULL STOMACH? I have. What are you waiting for?