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Feed 135 families each week at the Sunday Shelf in Madurai

The the Sunday Shelf pantry in Madurai is running low just as demand rises; $250 will stock it for 9 weeks.

🇮🇳 Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India675 views
Alok M. Oberoi
Email verifiedPhoto verified
Madurai
Since 2023, our volunteer team has run the Sunday Shelf every Thursday from the back of the old library basement. We started with 26 families, and now we feed 135 each week. Donations have dropped by about 35% this summer, while the line has grown every single week. We rely on volunteers - 12 of us - and keep no salaries or overhead. I buy staples at wholesale prices at the Madurai market and keep every receipt. Each $10 feeds a family of four for a week. All of the funds go to groceries, fresh produce, and cold-storage costs. Where the $250 goes: • Baby formula and diapers: $90 • Refrigeration and electricity: $45 • Fresh vegetables and fruit: $115 Whatever you can give, even just sharing this page, means a lot. - Alok
#food-pantry#hunger#volunteer-led#food

Updates from Alok

  1. Update from Madurai: we've booked the dates and paid the deposit. We're at 60% of the goal. Thank you for believing in us.

  2. Thank you all. We're at 16% now ($40). I'm honestly stunned. the first invoice got paid this week.

  3. We're at 29% thanks to 4 of you. I made the first payment toward baby formula and diapers. More news soon.

Donations

RecentTop gifts
  • Giovana Josiane Prado 🇧🇷 · $79

    “From my family to yours. This is from my last paycheck, glad to do it. - Ribeirão Preto”

  • Khalid Umar Hashmi 🇵🇰 · $36
  • Joyce Urassa 🇰🇪 · $30

    “Hope this helps. Saw your post and had to give. - Nakuru”

  • Grace Sanders 🇺🇸 · $25
  • Anoma Ishara Amarasinghe 🇱🇰 · $15

    “Rooting for you. Thought of Alok all day after reading this. - Colombo”

  • Nao Reiko Miyazaki 🇯🇵 · $10

    “From Kawasaki with love. - Kawasaki”

  • Aisling Johnston 🇮🇪 · $7

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Questions & comments

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  • Klara Sjöberg

    Thanks for sharing this. Great idea, hope you get there. Greetings from Cape Town

    • Everett H. Fowler

      thinking of you. Gave what I could, wish it was more. Love from San Diego

      • Sebastián F. Mendoza

        Shared this with my family. Wish I lived closer to Warangal so I could bring a meal. Love from New Delhi.

        • Aoife Nolan

          looking forward to the next update. I'm in logistics myself and wanted you to know we're cheering for you. Take care.

          • Araceli P. Gómez

            Thanks for sharing this. Everyone deserves a bit of help sometimes. I'll check back for the next update. All the best.

            • Manoj E. Prajapati

              Take care, Alok. More neighborhoods should do this. I hope October is when things finally get easier. God bless

              • Gregory C. Ward

                Wishing you peace, Alok. Hope this works out for you. It's not much but it's yours. Thinking of Madurai.

                • Refilwe S. Mokoena

                  Gave what I could, wish it was more. I told my book club about it and three of them are giving too. Thinking of Madurai

                  • Bithi Taslima KhanID verified

                    wishing you the best, Alok. Everyone deserves a bit of help sometimes. Thinking of Madurai

                    • Stefan Werner Köhler

                      Sending strength, Alok. It takes guts to ask. Well done. We're a small family in Piraeus but we're thinking of you.

                      • Shweta J. Kapoor

                        you're not alone. This could happen to any of us. Read this on the bus and kept thinking about it all day. Thinking of Madurai.

                        • Pablo A. RiveraID verified

                          Best of luck. More neighborhoods should do this. We lost years of savings to something like this so I get it.

                          • Delilah A. Rhodes

                            Keep going, Alok. Shared this with my family. My daughter saw me on my phone and now she wants to give her pocket money.

                            $202 raised of $250

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