“Your vehicle started distributing free meals in my locality around the same time I began nursing my child. Those nutritious and healthy meals helped me quite a bit during the time” – Sobha, 28.
 
“I’m a tailor and work here, with my machine out on the streets. The business is erratic, so I can’t afford to buy meals every day from restaurants or elsewhere. The meals you provide is a boon for people like us” - Ashok, 45.
 
“We live hand to mouth on the meagre daily wages my husband earns. These meals help us save money which we otherwise end up spending on food. That, in turn, helps us get by on the days my husband is unable to find work.” – Pullamma, 49.
 
“We usually have only rice and pappu (dal) for lunch on the weekdays. Our financial situation does not allow us to spend much more on food. After you started serving our locality, we can eat better meals at least once a day.” – Swaroopa, 38.
 
Sobha, Ashok, Pullamma, and Swaroopa, all beneficiaries of Project Annadanam, remind us that a free meal is often much more than just a free meal.

While warding off hunger is certainly on top of the benefits of our free meals program, for some, it enables nutritional security by being able to consume more healthy meals. For others, it provides them with the ability to set aside funds for a rainy day. It could even be the difference between a child going to school or not.

What do we do:

The persistence of chronic hunger in our streets, as evidenced by the extremely high levels of malnutrition and our country’s consistent poor performance in the global hunger index, is clearly unacceptable. We believe that everyone has the right to a decent meal and that we, as a society have a collective responsibility to provide for those who are unable to obtain one on their own.

At Project Annadanam, we are trying to make a difference, by using food vans to deliver free meals to the urban poor near where they live and congregate. At present, our food van delivers 100 meals 6 days a week to the needy in Hyderabad.

We have entered into an agreement with Safa Society, Hyderabad to provide us packets of cooked food on a cost reimbursement basis. Our van picks up the food from Safa Society’s community kitchen and distributes it among those who live in the streets and pavements around the localities of Gachibowli, Langer Hauz, and Upperpally in Hyderabad.

We started operations on 1st March 2018 and have distributed 1,18,832 free meals to the needy as of November 30, 2022.

How we plan to utilize the funds:
The COVID-19 pandemic has made a bad situation worse, with the economic condition of the poor, especially migrants and slum-dwellers worsening due to significant job losses, especially in the unorganized sector. In light of the current crisis, we plan to increase the number of meals distributed from 100 a day to 200 a day.

The funds would go towards procurement and distribution of food packets for distribution among the needy. The detailed estimation of costs is provided below:
 

SL. No	Cost Head	Amount
1	Food Procurement Cost (estimated for 200 meals a day at Rs.26 per meal for one year)	1,898,000
2	Food Packaging Cost (estimated for 200 meals a day at Rs.5 per meal for one year)	365,000
3	Salaries (estimated for one van driver for a year)	174,000
4	Fuel	63,000
	Total	2,500,000

All donations to Rozi Roti Foundation are eligible for tax exemptions under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act.
 
Get to know us better:
Project Annadanam is an initiative by the Rozi Roti Foundation, a registered non-profit based in Hyderabad.

In addition to providing daily meals to the needy through Project Annadanam, we also distributed 240 grocery kits to slum dwelling families who had suffered job losses and income shortfalls in the wake of the pandemic. The kits contained essential food supplies including groceries, vegetables etc. and were calculated to cover the requirements of a five-member family for a week.

During the nationwide lockdown, we supported orphanages, destitute homes, and old age homes across Hyderabad by providing them essential supplies in partnership with our donors and other NGOs. This activity benefited 2,362 orphans/elders/destitutes residing in 44 institutions across Hyderabad.

You can go through our website, twitter handle or our Facebook page to know more about Project Annadanam. You can also contact us on contact@rozirotifoundation.org.

Rozi Roti foundation is promoted by a group of professionals who have been involved in various aspects of international development. If you wish to learn more about us, you can go through our LinkedIn profiles which are provided below:
Anjaneyulu Ballem, Denny George, Veena Yamini A and Arunabha Bhattacharya.

We look forward to your support and help to make a difference to the lives of those unfortunate enough to go to bed hungry today.