SEEDS and Honeywell partner to provide more than 10 million meals across 9 cities
Hyderabad: SEEDS, a leading humanitarian organization, has partnered with Honeywell to distribute food kits that will provide 10.7 million meals across nine cities to people who have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. These include daily wagers, contract workers, and migrant population who have been displaced because of the lockdown.
While phase-1 of the distribution drive provided around 3.7 million meals across five cities, in phase-2, this partnership aims to provide an additional 7 million meals across nine cities: Delhi, Gurugram, Bengaluru, Pune, Madurai, Haridwar, Dehradun, Chennai, and Hyderabad. Cumulatively, this multi-city outreach will cover 1.78 lakh people.
At the beginning of the countrywide lockdown, there was a huge outpouring of support for the displaced and marginalized. These efforts have come down significantly since the country began to restart and reopen. However, there are large swathes of population – especially among migrant workers – that continue to suffer from job losses and depleted savings.
Yezdani Rahman, Chief of Program, SEEDS said, “We at SEEDS are committed to reach out to those in need, in the face of covid-19 pandemic since the very beginning. With the crisis still looming large, the challenge to sustain lives continues to prevail and we remain strong with people fighting against it. Through our second phase of ration distribution with support from Honeywell, we aim to reach out to more number of families in respective regions than in the first phase.”
Each food kit comprises rice, wheat flour, sugar, pulses, cooking oil, and salt.
The distribution drive will be conducted over several days in areas such as Miyapur, Chandanagar, Bollarum, Gowlidoddy, Patancheru, Gachibowli and Filmnagar.
Mr. V.C. Sajjanar, Commissioner of Police, Cyberabad said, “Due to the nationwide lockdown, a lot of displaced workers have lost their means of livelihood. With fast depleting savings, they are struggling to survive. Honeywell and their NGO partner, SEEDS, are doing commendable work by distributing rations and food. I also request other organizations to come forward and help the society during this current pandemic situation and we will extend all the possible assistance required to reach the distressed”
Mr. Shivkumar Ramachandran, Site Leader, Honeywell India, said, “As a responsible corporate citizen, we are committed to reaching out to the most vulnerable with food and ration kits. We are taking all the necessary precautions and ensuring safe distancing while conducting the ration distribution. Through this initiative, we would like to extend our support to the displaced workers.”
Over the coming weeks, SEEDS will engage with social volunteers and government officials to undertake the distribution drive.