While many in the city were partying to ring in the New Year, a group of volunteers was going around with vans to distribute food among those who had little to eat.
Their mission did not stop with distributing food.
The food vans were being tailed by another vehicle that carried blankets.
The IHA Foundation’s volunteers toured the streets of Hazra, Kidderpore and Bhowanipore, among other parts of the city. The food packets had jeera rice, chhole and sooji halwa.
The first sop was Sambhunath Pandit Street.
The volunteers spread out, appealing to people to come to the van and collect the food packets.
Among those who received them was a man whose son is admitted to SSKM Hospital did not have money to buy any food.
“This person was in acute distress. He was in tears as we brought food to him. He asked if he could have some more because he had not eaten the whole day. Another packet was given to him,” said Dashmeshbir Singh, a volunteer.
“We celebrated the end of the year by trying to bring some cheer to such people,” he said.
By the end of the night, they distributed the food among over 900 people.
Armed with blankets, the volunteers looked for those sleeping on the pavements with plastic sheets wrapped around their bodies in an attempt to ward off the chill. Many elderly were shivering. “Some of them folded their hands in gratitude,” said a volunteer.
The IHA Foundation has been running this initiative for 20 years.
On Christmas, they distributed wheelchairs to the differently-abled, said Ranjit Das, a volunteer.
“The act of distributing food and blankets is more than a gesture, it is a heartfelt promise to embrace those in need,” said Satnam Singh Ahluwalia, chairman of the foundation.