Rotarians Dinesh Mallya & Manish Rao gone ‘Good Samaritans’ distributing Food Packets to Cops & Others
Mangaluru : Yes- The Rotary Foundation is the backbone of all the charitable work that Rotarians do. The Rotary Foundation has earned a five-star (highest) rating from Charity Navigator, the independent organization that rates non-profits. The mission of The Rotary Foundation is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, and apart from that the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty, and involving in other community services, is very much appreciated by the society. Rotarians and friends of Rotary support the Foundation’s work through voluntary contributions at whatever financial level they are most comfortable. It’s important to remember that the need never ends, and therefore, neither should the giving.
And locally, two Rotarians, namely Dinesh Mallya (President) and Manish Rao ( director of district special projects/activities) of Rotary Club of Mangaluru-Hillside, followed on the Rotary mission and went forth to become not only the True Spirited Rotarians, but also the Good Samaritans, by going around the City, and distributing food packets to police on duty, stranded travelers in KSRTC bus-stand, destitute/beggars, daily wage labourers, auto-rickshaw drivers and few others. This seems like a very good humanitarian project undertaken by these duo Rotarians.
It was on Sunday, 22 March 2020 when Mangaluru city was totally shut down due to “Janata Curfew” initiated by PM Narendra Modi nation wide, that many travelers, daily wage workers, other workers, drivers, cops on duty were out of luck finding food, since all the hotels/restaurants, and other eateries were closed. And it was during such a situation, that two Rotarians of Rotary club hillside came to the rescue of such mentioned people- and they all applauded and thanked these two Good Samaritans for their humanitarian service in the time of distress.
Speaking to Team Mangalorean Rtn Dinesh Mallya said, “We really didn’t do this act of service for publicity, but couldn’t help when few media personnel appreciated our gesture and recorded/clicked photos to highlight our service. Knowing that a bunch of people will suffer due to non-availability of food since all restaurants/eateries were closed to Janata Curfew, me and my friend Manish came up with the idea to distribute food packets. One hundred ready-to-eat packets comprising of rice, dhal, and palya (vegetable) were readied by ‘Boon Relish’ food joint in Gandhinagar, and we paid the expenses. We distributed 25 food packets to the Karnataka State Reserve Police stationed near Kankanady, and the remaining food packets were distributed among beggars, daily wage workers, stranded travelers, a few auto-rickshaw drivers, among others”
Seen in photo- Rtn Dinesh Mallya ( in white shirt/glasses) and Rtn Manish Rao ( standing behind the car)
“We decided on this service because as Rotarians we do lot of community projects, helping those in needs, including our service to Ashrams, old-age homes, and other NGO’s. Among Rotary’s big project is eradicating Polio, and Rotarians have helped immunize more than 2 billion children against polio in 122 countries. We are close to eradicating polio, but until the job is finished worldwide, children everywhere remain at risk – and polio eradication will remain Rotary’s primary humanitarian goal- and our Hillside Rotary Club will lend our full support to this project.Our Club’s next project is to feed the stray dogs and cows in the City, which lack food, and they have been neglected in this regard. We are glad that people appreciated our help in serving them food during the Janata Curfew, and we both feel very blessed” added Rotarian Mallya.
In conclusion, in my perspective- we all need to applaud the kind gesture of these two Rotarians, who went little further, rather than just remaining as name-sake members of Rotary Club, by lending their service in distributing food packets when no food was available during the total lock-down in the City. Other members of social organizations should follow in the footsteps of these two Rotarians/Good Samaritans, and also come forward when such kind of curfew, bandhs, etc take place in the City. The duo Rotarians act of service should also be a wake-up call the government netas and district administration officials, that they should also provide such kind of service whenever the City is shut down- and not let a bunch of people helpless and without food and basic necessities during such incidents. The humane act of the two Rotarians should be lauded by everyone.
