Friends serve up 1,500 free meals a day
A group of friends have been serving up more than 1,500 meals a day as one of countless gestures of generosity shown by the local community during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Its benefactors include hungry hospital staff who have been able to order food instead of it being simply being left in reception areas by well-meaning donors.
It hasn’t been child’s play for children’s nursery owner Sanjay Morzaria but his organisational skills - coupled with those of restaurateur Chinten Pandya and food wholesaler Umesh Chotia -has bought together a group of liked-minded volunteers under the banner of the Covid-19 Response Kitchen.
Sanjay said: “It’s a group effort with Chinten and his team overseeing the cooking while Umesh sources the food. I deal with the logistics including taking orders and delivery.
“We’ve got about 40 people helping us now and deliver to four hospitals along with a service for vulnerable people. It’s a great feeling helping other people. It’s good to be busy and we all just want to do our bit.”
The centre of cooking operations is the Desai Dhaba restaurant in Ealing Road which found itself having to close for walk-in customers just a month after opening.
Owner Chinten and his wife Mona cook and prepare hundreds of meals a day with restaurant staff.
Chinten said: “It wasn’t an ideal start for a new business but this is a way of both contributing and keeping our team busy. We focus on vegetarian food and ingredients depend on what Umesh can source. We use around 250kgs of rice and 180 kgs of onions every day.”
The food is then taken to a church hall where it is distributed via a network of 20 drivers provide by the charity SEWA DAY.
Mona added: “We are increasingly doing food drop-offs to vulnerable people and had one elderly gentleman knock on our door saying his wife had recently passed away and he hadn’t eaten for days. It makes you realize that a lot of people are genuinely struggling.”
The whole operation is funded by the Jala Ram Temple in Greenford and a group of business people from the area’s large Indian community.
Sanjay added: “There are positives in even the worst situations and the way people have come together for a common cause and volunteered their time and money has been fantastic.
“It shows us all that being human and helping one another is more important than money.”