Feeding Initiatives
Annadana, or charity in the form of food is considered a very important aspect of Vedic Culture and Indian Heritage. It is considered the greatest among charities. It was also the desire of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, that no one within a ten-mile radius of a Hare Krishna Centre should go hungry. Inspired by this,Madhu Pandit Dasa and his team have launched various feeding initiatives to the benefit society at large.
Apart from The Akshaya Patra Foundation, Madhu Pandit Dasa and his team have initiated various schemes such as -
Annapurna Scheme
The Annapurna is a subsidized meal programme that was launched in 2014 in partnership with the GHMC (Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation) to feed the needy and underserved sections in the city of Hyderabad.
Through this programme, more than 40,000 meals are being served in about 150 centres everyday. Many more schemes such as Saddimoota, Bhojanamrita and Swasthya Ahaara are being run under The Hare Krishna Charities Trust, which benefits more than 65,000 people every day across the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Night Shelter Feeding programme
In collaboration with the Government of NCT of Delhi, more than 150,000 meals are being served to the underserved sections of the society in about 210 Delhi night shelters everyday.
Pourakarmika Feeding
Feeding more than 20,000 pourakarmikas (workers who help to clean the city) in Bangalore with a hot and nutritious lunch every day, in a joint venture with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
Feeding Sadhus in Vrindavan
More than 500 sadhus are currently receiving hygienic and wholesome food in Kesi Ghat, Gyan Gudri, Pani Ghat and other areas in Vrindavan. Our feeding program helps them to continue their spiritual pursuits without having to worry about their next meal.
Hospital Feeding
It was observed that people from humble and economically disadvantaged households visit government-run hospitals to avail affordable healthcare, and most of their hard-earned wealth was spent on medical treatment. This Hospital Feeding initiative aims to give relief to all these underserved members of our society by providing them with nutritious and delicious meals. These meals would help in saving money for their much-needed medical expenses. The initiative is now feeding thousands of meals every day at different hospitals in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Vrindavan, Ahmedabad and other locations.
Feeding initiatives in Temples
In ISKCON Bangalore and its group of temples, every visitor is served fresh and nutritious food in the form of prasadam. Many of these Temples distribute piping hot cups of khichdi prasadam at any given point of time when the temple is open.
Over the years, they have distributed crores of donnas filled with hot khichdi prasadam much to the delight of the pilgrims who visit the Temple.
Apart from this, Temples like ISKCON Bangalore also serve free and sumptuous lunch prasadam to all the Temple visitors. Millions of devotees have been served with these meals since this initiative began in 2015.
Madhu Pandit Dasa has received numerous awards and recognitions for these feeding initiatives.