Serving free food on a daily basis helps these patients and their relatives

Shilpam Kapur Rathore, a former resident of New Delhi, where she stayed opposite the AIIMS realised this problem when she saw a lady cooking for her sick child near the hospital basement one day while driving past the area. Moved by the plight of the OPD patients and their attendants, Shilpam founded the Aranya Foundation in 2015 with the aim of distributing 100 meals per day to OPD patients and their attendants. 

“The obstacles of feeding the teeming millions of this great nation are daunting. The challenge here is to also properly identify the needy from the less needy. So far we have provided 14,400 meals,” says Shilpam, who recently shifted to Chennai with her husband ADGP Sandeep Rathore, spreading the wings of Aranya Foundation in Chennai as well. 

“We distribute around 120 meals for patients and attendants at the Egmore Eye Hospital every day at 6 pm. Currently, one caterer helps us with cooking and packaging. But we are also planning to set up a self-help group for women, and a kitchen where they can cook the food needed for distribution. Once the kitchen is set up, we can double the production and reach more hospitals in the city. Women empowerment is our other priority,” she says. 

Through her foundation, Shilpam also plans to support various music traditions. 

“I am bringing the inimitable Qawwali singers — Nizami Bandhu from Delhi. They will be performing in Chennai on August 26 in a charity-driven gala. 

The event is being organised with the aim of raising funds to feed destitute patients at hospitals (AIIMS in Delhi and Government Eye Hospital in Chennai). The team is fortunate to have donors who have given them unstinting support,” she sums up.