From flood relief to monthly ration distribution, here's how we make sure no family in our reach goes to bed hungry.

Anna Daan — the giving of food — is one of the oldest and most humble forms of seva. It does not require expertise. It does not require a long planning meeting. It requires only that you have noticed that someone is hungry, and you have done something about it. We try, every month, to do something about it.

Our Anna Daan programme works at three levels. First, monthly ration kits go out to the most vulnerable families in our reach — typically widow-headed households, elderly couples without family support, and families where the primary earner has fallen ill. A kit covers one month: rice, dal, oil, salt, sugar, masala basics, and a small treat like jaggery or biscuits.

Second, during festivals and emergencies — floods, sudden lockdowns, illness outbreaks — we run hot meal drives. We've cooked and served over 8,000 hot meals in the last two years. The trick to scale is keeping the menu simple: khichdi, sabzi, roti, a sweet on festival days. You don't need a five-course meal to make someone feel taken care of. You just need it to be hot, fresh, and served with respect.

Third, we partner with local kirana stores so families with our donor-issued vouchers can pick up essentials whenever they need them, without the indignity of asking. A voucher slipped into a hand is more dignified than a queue at a distribution point. Where we can manage it, we choose the voucher.

If you'd like to sponsor ration kits — one kit costs ₹1,200 and feeds a family of four for a month — write to us at contact@teamsamarpan.org. Every kit goes out with a slip naming the donor, and a thank-you reaches you within the week.