Vivek Oberoi: Prone to other diseases if they don’t get nutrition

Vivek Oberoi. Pic/Satej Shinde

Close on the heels of raising funds to set up a 200-bed free Covid care facility in Delhi, Vivek Oberoi has turned his focus on the next mission. The actor has started a fundraiser with the Cancer Patients Aid Association (CPAA) to provide nutritious meals to over 3,000 underprivileged children battling cancer. His attention was drawn to the cause after he learnt that families belonging to the weaker economic sections often lived on an empty stomach to ensure that their ailing child had at least one square meal. "I spoke to a parent who hadn't had a meal for two days. Whatever food his wife and he could procure, they would feed it to the child to ensure that he is strong enough to battle the illness," shares Oberoi, who also donated an undisclosed amount.

Through the fundraiser, they will build a corpus that will sustain the meal programme for three months. "These children have travelled from rural areas of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar to Mumbai for their treatment. Their immunity is extremely low because they are fighting cancer, and if they don't get the right nutrition, they may become susceptible to other diseases like Covid-19. Besides overseeing their treatment, the CPAA provides foodgrains, fruits, vegetables and other essentials to build their immunity." The actor adds that Children Across Borders, the US-based charity that he is associated with, has pledged to sponsor the meals of 200 kids.

Oberoi urges that a little generosity can go a long way. "We buy two avocados for Rs 1,000. A child and his family can have nutritious meals for a month in that amount."

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