It was a foggy winter night in Delhi. Shilpam saw a woman cooking for her sick child outside AIIMS. The former resident of Delhi, who shifted to Chennai two years ago with her husband ADGP Sandeep Rathore found that many outpatients who come to AIIMS are very poor. They hardly have the means to buy medicines, leave alone food. So she came up with a noble idea to serve these patients to be delighted twice over for taking care of the sick and poor.
“When I saw the woman cooking, I actually wanted to build them a shelter,” recollects Shilpam Kapur Rathore. “But I knew I didn’t have the funds. That was when I decided to give them cooked meals.” Thus began Aranya Foundation in 2015.
Today, the team has extended its altruistic arm to Chennai and has served more than 1,00,000 meals. “We have been providing dinner for OPD patients and their attendants since December 29, 2015. About 100-120 meals are served every day at AIIMS (Delhi) and at the Egmore eye hospital Chennai since March 2018. One hundred meals every day, so a total of 200 meals daily,” says Shilpam.
So how does Shilpam manage to feed so many patients? “I went to the AIIMS hospital canteen and asked them to cook for the patients and told them I would pay for it,” she says.
To maintain hygiene and nutritious intake, she opted to get the food directly from the canteen. Likewise, in Chennai, she has partnered with a catering service. Once the meals are ready, they are collected by volunteers who distribute them to the patients at Egmore hospital. “Friends volunteered and so did college students. We spread the word around and we also provide students with certificates for the work done,” explains Shilpam.
“I remember the first time I gave food to the patients,” reminisces Shilpam.”They had tears in their eyes. I also came across a child who asked me after receiving a meal if I will be coming again tomorrow,” she recalls.
She also worries about the attendants who take care of the patients. “We need to help them as they work really hard,” says Shilpam. “I have seen that not many hospitals offer them meals.”
Shilpam receives funds from well-wishers. “Every time I get donations from people, I keep telling them that they have fed a patient, our funding largely came from independent donors initially. Donations were collected from well wishers and likeminded friends, now we are fortunate to have some corporate donors as well.” smiles Shilpam.
She also plans to start preparing the meals by hiring destitute and aims to set up kitchens to cook the food as that would reduce the cost and help in providing for more needy people.
“I want to empower women who don’t have the means to earn, To run these kitchens we would be creating women self help groups so as to empower poor women who can contribute a couple of hours a day and earn a tidy sum,” says Shilpam.
What drives her to feed the patients? “When I saw the woman cooking for her loved one in Delhi, I decided to do something,” says Shilpam. “I asked myself, what can I do to at least remove a little suffering from their lives? That was when I saw that many couldn’t afford to eat. I want to give hope to such people. We have so many blessings in life. We should do something about helping those who don’t have that.”
She is planning to organise a fund-raising event at The Hilton hotel, Chennai, on August 26 to promote her cause. The event will see the performances of Qawwali singers Nizami Bandhu.
