Mumbai: Creator of chocolate Ganesha raises 6,500 kg of relief material for flood-affected villages

Rintu Rathod’s (in pink kurta) Food Army had 40 collection centres across the city where people could donate relief material

As part of her efforts to help those hit by natural calamities, Santacruz-based artist/sculptor Rintu Rathod, popularly known in Mumbai as the creator of the Chocolate Ganesha, has collected 6,500 kg of relief material for residents of the flood-affected villages of Mahad.

Rathod is also the founder of ‘The Food Army', an NGO whose primary purpose is to reach out to the victims of natural disasters with home-cooked food and essentials. "Whenever there's some calamity, our Food Army reaches the spot first and distributes dry food stuff among the victims," said Rathod, who managed to collect 6,500 kg of relief material in just a little over two days. "There was very little time but we managed to execute it with complete precision. Management is our strength. So far we have distributed groceries in the remote tribal villages of Jadavpur, Valan, Karanjkhol, Gandharpale, Baudh Wadi, Kemburli, Sahil Nagar, Dadli gaon, Kolgaon, Wadawli gaon, Rajewadi gaon, Naangarwadi fata, Birwadi, Nane machi and so on. Our work is still on. Now the volunteers are reaching out to people in the upper parts of the mountains with groceries and rebuilding their huts with tarpaulin sheets."

Rathod's Food Army had 40 collection centres across the city where people could donate relief material. "For distribution, we had a team of 10 volunteers. We also took help from NSS ex-volunteers and Seescap volunteers in distributing the relief material. It was done in a very systematic manner with help from the sarpanch of every village. Our volunteers tried every possible way to reach out to the victims," she added.

Also read: Maharashtra government announces Rs 11,500 crore flood relief package

Rathod further said that they wanted to reach out to the tribal villages where no help had reached before them. "Identifying those villages and then contacting the right people for distribution was a challenge. We chose only those villages where no aid had reached. To reach those areas was another challenge. The distribution was done in a very systematic manner. The sarpanch of every village had lists of families living there and we gave the materials to each family as per the requirement," she said.

According to her, the Food Army has helped at least 1,000 families in Mahad. "It's a very humbling feeling. Most of all, I feel extremely peaceful. If you really want to do something and if your intentions are good, just take the first step and the entire universe will conspire to help you achieve your goal." She added, "Most of the time we are not aware of our own strength. I was not aware of my management capacity before starting the Food Army. You will never know your strengths until you test them."

Generous contributions

"We are grateful to the people of Mumbai for their generous contribution. It is because of them our every drive becomes successful. Also, our dedicated volunteers are working day and night on the field, and without our collection centres these drives would not have been possible," she concluded.