“Anand-Bhoj: Meal of Joy” was initiated in the month of December 2020 as part of Christmas Express: Unleashing the Joy (Christmas Campaign). It is the first initiative of Caritas India to run a soup kitchen on its own, with the supports of its staff and volunteers in Delhi. This initiative caters to two Key Strategic Pillars mentioned in the Strategic Plan of Caritas India – Volunteering and Sharing Community.

Since Caritas India’s Strategic Plan focuses on volunteering, it becomes necessary for the staff of Caritas India to lead by example and act what we preach. Thus, ‘Anand-Bhoj: Meal of Joy’ is an opportunity for the staff to organize, manage and run the community kitchen.

The 3^rd Anand Bhoj took place on 13^th February 2021, wherein 8 Caritas Samaritans (including the staff volunteers) supported under the leadership of two Caritas India staff – Mr Pramod and Mr Anupam.

To run this initiative, the staff ensured majorly four tasks:

• FUND MOBILISATION – Staff mobilised funds internally from the Head Office staff themselves. All were generous enough to contribute for this initiative.
• PROCUREMENT – Raw materials to cook khichdi – Vegetables, Rice, Pulses and Masalas etc were procured, a day before Anand Bhoj.
• PREPARATION – Five staff and three others volunteered for the preparation of the food, helping in chopping and cooking.
• DISTRIBUTION – The staff also volunteered to pack the meals and distribute them.

170 lunch packets were cooked and distributed among the street dwellers in and around Central Delhi covering Connaught place, RK Ashram Metro Station, Bangla Saheb Gurudwara, Baba Kharak Singh Marg, Mandir Marg and Jhandewalan. Each lunch packet included vegetable khichdi and pickle, enough for one adult person.

One of the benefits of the community kitchen is to enable access to healthy meals and support the members of the community to connect for the noble cause.