Coimbatore :

A two-wheeler fitted with a cardboard box is used to transport extra food from various marriage halls, association functions and hotels by a group of three youngsters aged between 22 and 24. Started as a small pilot project to collect and distribute extra food, they have now converted it into an organized effort over the past five months. The food is passed on to the needy at various slums, orphanages and ashrams in the city. They have also created a helpline number through which public could inform them about extra food.

A G Padmanaban, M Sudhakar and M Dinesh who have been roommates since their second year of college, bonded over developing innovative projects and apps initially. “As production engineering graduates, we were keen on developing new devices. Thought we have all got placements, we were more interested in doing something that would contribute towards sustainable living,” said Padmanaban. Thus, they started the Spice Foundation.

Sudhakar’s father is a lorry driver, Dinesh’s, a textile weaver and Padmanaban’s father is a central government employee. “We divided the work based on our interests and skills. Dinesh and I take care of school education and Sudhakar takes care of solid waste management projects,” said Padmanaban.

So far this year, they have fed 4,350 people with quality food worth Rs1.74lakh. “We calculated the cost per person to be Rs40 but it could be more than that,” said Sudhakar. They aim to feed 2000 people daily. The group is currently looking to launch an application created by them to organize their ‘no food waste’ project. “We plan to launch the app after it is tested. When we receive a call from a hotel, the app immediately sends a message to one of our volunteers, that would include the name, location and phone number of the hotel. The receiver also gets directions,” said Padmanaban.

The group has identified 30 marriage halls, three hotels and a few other associations where they could collect left-over food. “We distribute it at several orphanages and slum areas,” said Padmanaban. As of now, the only advertisement is through social media.

Though food collection and distribution sounds simple, they face several challenges, they said. “Most of the caterers dislike us as they would have sold the food instead. So they are not very helpful. We pack the food in banana leaf and paper,” said Sudhakar. Besides, since they get calls round-the-clock, they have to coordinate with the donors in such a way that the food does not spoil. “As per our pilot study, 60% of the food wasted is during lunch and 20% each during breakfast and dinner,” said Padmanaban. They hope to get some grants to support their project. “We earn around Rs7000 per month from other projects and continue to work on creating apps and e-commerce portals during our free time,” said Sudhakar who is also involved in segregating and selling recyclable waste in two areas in Kovai Pudur.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Coimbatore / by Komal Gautham, TNN / June 02nd, 2015