Revolution which started on 7th Sep 2011 has reached many lives in Bangalore , Chennai , Hyderabad, Mysore , Kenya , Bahamas and many more places . Times of India speaks about 36meals.com and the founder of this initiative - A Visionary Entrepreneur and Inspirational speaker Mr.Sujit Lalwani. Indeed a proud moment to be a part of such positive team. I am sure many of you will appreciate the initiative.
The article featured in TOI can also be accessed at : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Networking-to-feed-the-hungry/articleshow/10898611.cms
A frightening number of people go to bed every night fighting hunger:
reports say India is home to one-quarter of the world's hungry and one-third of
the world's undernourished children. While there is a general awareness of the
challenge, only a small percentage of the population is contributing to a
solution. Bangalore-based Sujit Lalwani, 24, is one among them. He decided to
do his bit for hungry people, a few months ago.
Lalwani started a campaign - 36meals.com, which aims to create awareness about
saving food and donating meals to the poor and needy. It's an initiative under
Inspiration Unlimited, run by Lalwani and One Young World, a global forum where
people with leadership calibre come together on a single platform to find
solutions to existing problems.
Volunteers urge people to stop wasting food and also donate meals. All they
ask for, initially, is one meal in 10 days, which they say is how much a person
wastes on an average. One in 10 days, three a month and 36 a year. "We ask
people to start with donating a meal a year, which doesn't cost much. We call
them beginners. People who want to donate one meal a month are in the
intermediate group. Those who can donate 36 meals a year are called experts. We
have 500 beginners, roughly 150 intermediates and close to 100 experts. By next
year, we want at least 5,000 meals to be donated. It's a culture to be passed
on," says Lalwani.
The initiative is supported by like-minded people from both within the country
and abroad. It has volunteers from schools, colleges and professionals from
varied industries who work from various locations. "We have volunteers in
Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and also in
Kenya and the
Bahamas. I mostly work with students who cannot pool in finances, so I thought
initially we'll work on a non-financial basis, with some kind of involvement
from people around," says Lalwani. The network is ever growing, he adds.
A 2008-batch NIT Surathkal engineering student, Lalwani is not just an
entrepreneur, but an inspirational speaker and an aspiring author. "I have
always aspired to be a young achiever, which to me means creating an impact on
society. I became one of five ambassadors representing India at
Zurich during the
One Young World conference last year, which had representatives from 170
countries. It gave me the platform to grow my network," says Lalwani.
They also reach out to people through social networking sites and by
visiting schools and colleges, apart from personal networking.
36meals.com is
encouraged as a social group in some city schools too. "We got to know
from the Bahamas that Pollo Tropical and
Burger King,
the food giants, are tying up with 36meals.com for promotions throughout the
United States,
which is good news for us," says Lalwani.
HOW DOES ONE DONATE?
Usually people come in a group, where each person gets food either from home
or pools in money and buys food from a restaurant. They then donate the food to
an orphanage, old-age home or to beggars with a 36meals.com volunteer.
36meals.com does not collect money from donors. They plan to start working
as an NGO in a few months. People collect food and then go to 36meals.com to
donate it, usually in groups
( Post your comments . Pledge on www.36meals.com )
