When the pandemic struck, he fed the needy

Y. Maheswara Reddy | NT

Bengaluru: Meet V. Krishna Moorthy, a 65-year-old senior citizen of Domlur, who played a key role in supplying food to thousands of needy people during the first wave of coronavirus.

Krishna Moorthy, who established Domlur Senior Citizens’ Charitable Trust in July 2019, was instrumental in garnering funds to feed the unemployed and poor in and around Domlur.

“I started Domlur Senior Citizens’ Charitable Trust to facilitate senior citizens to spend leisure time by providing a suitable place and the required amenities such as books and newspapers,’’ says Krishna Moorthy.

His journey to help the needy people began when he happened to come across a private hotel that began supplying food to the needy people during the first wave of coronavirus. With the private hotel management taking its own time to supply groceries, he decided to supply food himself in association with other philanthropists.

“I was very happy when Domlur Samskriti Foundation evinced interest to make a generous donation for the cause. I thought of supplying food to 50 or 100 people but we made 2,500 food packets available for lunch and the number of food packets for dinner was increased to 4,000 food packets,’’ he recalled.

During the first wave of the pandemic, he used to visit the kitchen opened at a marriage hall in Domlur at 5.30 am along with other volunteer Kashi Vishwanathan. While 15 people were engaged in cutting vegetables, 18 were busy cooking from 4.30 am every day during the pandemic. “Packing of food used to be completed by 8.30 am. I engaged around 50 boys to pack the food,’’ he said.

He said that he was lucky to have around 80 volunteers distributing food at different locations in and around Domlur and other areas. “We used to use 1,200 kg of rice, 800 kg of vegetables, 250 litres of edible oil and 100 litres of water for cooking food every day. As a precautionary measure, we avoided using normal water for cooking and ensured sanitization of the kitchen on a daily basis and also ensured social distance,’’ he said, adding that he used to visit the kitchen twice a day.

A few hospitals, including Victoria Hospital, have approached Domlur Senior Citizens’ Charitable Trust for essential supplies such as drinking water, biscuits, fruits and other protein rich food items. “We have supplied around 10,000 packets of protein rich food items to hospitals and Covid Care Centres,’’ he said.

During the second wave, Domlur Senior Citizens’ Charitable Trust has focused on supporting unemployed auto rickshaw and cab drivers by providing groceries. “We have succeeded in helping around 500 auto rickshaw and cab drivers during the second wave. We have been providing groceries for 155 families since April and we will continue supplying groceries to them for three more months,’’ he said.

The members of Domlur Senior Citizens’ Charitable Trust have educated people on Covid Appropriate Behavior (CAB) like ensuring hygiene, wearing face marks, social distancing etc through posters and banners and also provided reusable cloth masks to citizens in the neighborhood. The other initiative was to provide LPG iron boxes with refillable gas canisters to laundry workers who were affected by the increasing costs of coal and low business during the Covid pandemic.

“We have converted our office into a free Covid vaccination center in association with the BBMP for the benefit of needy people,’’ he said.