'Friendly neighbours' serve fresh food to empty nesters

The 'Friendly Neighbourhood Group', led by Preeti Sundar, is sending cooked food to senior citizens and other needy families in and around South Bengaluru. Preeti, who lives in J P Nagar, started the initiative on March 19, even before the lockdown was announced. Since then, she has roped in several of her friends and family members to help with the effort.

Many of the senior citizens Preeti and her group serve are empty nesters who already led very secluded lives; complying with social distancing and remaining isolated could have an adverse effect on their health. In the absence of domestic help, simple chores like buying groceries or cooking food is hard for these seniors and that is where this volunteer group's work comes in handy.

"We were worried about how we would manage, as we are accompanied by our oldest family member, who is 99 years old and has special diet restrictions. Preeti filled a void in our lives," says Kokila, one of the senior citizens who benefitted from this initiative.

Others too echo this sentiment and appreciate their genuine desire to help senior citizens.

Who does the cooking?

Most of the work in the kitchen is done by a 31-member-strong volunteer group, who turn out a variety of dishes ranging from idli and sambar to puris and north Indian curries. A daily roster of work is shared by Preeti, with the women making a conscious effort to vary the items on offer, while providing healthy, wholesome food appealing to people with a wide variety of dietary preferences.

The group also maintains high standards of hygiene. "There were apprehensions whether we would have enough rations and were relieved when Government allowed local shops to operate. We share the food with our own families too, as many of us volunteers have children of our own," says Priya Ramakrishnan, one of the volunteers.

Another volunteer Vanitha Balaji points out, "It gives us much genuine satisfaction to help seniors and quarantined families and make such a difference in their lives. We learn new recipes and dishes from each other. The only way we get all the work completed efficiently in time is that we work as a team.”

Preeti also ensures a regular supply of tea and snacks to the security guards, who are doing their best to help out.

During these trying times, these families are battling the pandemic by showing that kindness can be contagious too.