The Gem & Jewellery National Relief Foundation (GJNRF) and Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB) donated two vans to Roti Bank, a Mumbai-based non-profit organisation that collects excess food from restaurants, clubs, events, etc. and distributes it to the poor and needy.
D. Sivanandhan, Roti Bank mentor and former Mumbai Police Commissioner, graced the occasion and addressed the gathering about the organisation. He informed that just in over 18 months since Roti Bank was started, it feeds over 3,000 people across the city each day.
He informed that Roti Bank currently has a fleet of seven vans, which picks excess food from weddings, cafeterias, housing societies, etc. and delivers it to thousands of hungry people who live in slums or on the streets. Roti Bank also delivers food daily to Drona Foundation in Dharavi, and also to relatives of patients at Tata Memorial Hospital and KEM Hospital.
Sivanandhan stressed that Roti Bank always delivers fresh food and as a policy does not collect leftovers. With the addition of two vans donated by BDB and GJNRF, the fleet count of Roti Bank has gone up to nine vans.
GJNRF chairman Sanjay Kothari said, “We are obliged to do a small bit on behalf of the gems and jewellery fraternity. We acknowledge the work done by D. Sivanandhan who is striving to make our city free from hunger and make food available to poor and needy people. On this occasion, let me also assure that BDB, with the help of Roti Bank, will offer one meal free to all the needy people in Mumbai.”