Ganjam: MEAL Gets Overwhelming Response from Donors, Over 10K Families Covered

Berhampur: The MEAL (Making Essential Items Available in Lockdown), an initiative launched by Ganjam District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) to help the needy and destitute people amid COVID-19 lockdown, has received an overwhelming response from the donors.

As many as 10,307 families have been covered under the initiative as on April 28, said PD DRDA Er Sidhartha Sankar Swain, who is personally mobilizing the like-minded people and organizations to donate dry foods for the programme.

Under the initiative, the DRDA distributes dry food packets to the needy and destitute people.
A single food packet generally consists of rice (5 kg), pulse (1 kg), edible oil (1 litter), soybean (1 kg), salt (1 kg) and spices (200 gram).

“The MEAL is an initiative to provide the needy with additional nutritional security and at the same time provides an opportunity to the NGOs & civil Society, who are eager to help, to pitch in”, the PD DRDA had said earlier.

The programme was launched on April 15 with an aim to soften the effects of lockdown, which has put unwanted hardships on the poor.