Tiruppur resident feeds hundreds during lockdown

Indira Sundaram distributes around 700 food packets a day

For the past one week, Indira Sundaram has been packing the rear of her car with hundreds of food packets from her residence on Kangeyam Road in Tiruppur to distribute them to those who cannot afford lunch during the COVID-19 lockdown in the city. “We distribute around 700 food packets every day,” she said. The 54-year-old Ms. Sundaram, who also runs a charitable trust, said she had been distributing food packets for the homeless people, differently abled and conservancy workers and also distributed grocery items to those in need in locations such as near Tiruppur Railway Station, Old Bus Terminus, Anupparpalayam and Velampalayam. The food got prepared at a private kitchen in Sirupooluvapatti every day and the packets would be packed by 11 a.m., she said. Following this, she loads the packets in her car and visits different locations for distribution till about 2.30 p.m. “My habit is to distribute [the packets] directly and not to depend on others,” Ms. Sundaram said. She recalled her voluntary work in April 2020 during the first nationwide lockdown, when she helped in looking after senior citizens who were rescued and sheltered at schools by the district administration. This experience has been helping her in volunteering independently this time, according to Ms. Sundaram. Apart from Tiruppur, she said her trust had also been attending to calls from the villages on the city’s outskirts and even in Coimbatore district.