The Rotary Club of Mumbai Cuffe Parade played the role of a catalyst by connecting GATI, a large Indian transportation and logistics company, with the Mid Day Meal project of Mumbai’s ISKCON Food Relief Foundation (IFRF).

On Friday the 23rd January Shri Devendra Agarwal, head of GATI, handed over the keys of one large truck to IFRF’s director Dr. Radha Krishna Dasa.

IFRF claim that they now just need 10 more vans to bring the strength of the fleet to meet their needs. These vans are used for delivering nutritious hygienically cooked Mid Day Meals packed and sealed in stainless steel containers to more than 176,000 underprivileged children from Municipal and Government aided schools in Maharashtra every day.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony held at the Bhaktivedanta Hall of ISKCON Chowpatty, Dr. Radha Krishna Dasa spoke, “What started as a humble beginning in 2004 when 900 students from one school were served from one kitchen, IFRF has come a long way by establishing centralized kitchens in Delhi, Noida, Faridabad, Kurukshetra, Tardeo, Juhu, Mira Road, Palghar, Nigdi, Silvassa, Jaipur, Ujjain, Tirupati, Rajhamundry and Nellore, reaching out to more than 600,000 students from 5000 schools every day.

Rtn. Ravi Jhunjhunwala, President Rotary Club of Mumbai Cuffe Parade presided over the function. Rtn. Harshvardhan Agarwal Chairman, Mid Day Meal Project, Rotary Dist 3140 informed members that various Rotary Clubs have also come forward and contributed more than 4,000,000 Rupees (US$82,000) towards the cause this year.