Thiruvananthapuram: With an aim to bring a smile to children’s faces, the DYFI Mangalapuram block committee has come up with ‘Palaharavandi’, an initiative of distributing snack boxes to kids.
The initiative was launched by Youth Commission chairperson Chintha Jerome at Perunguzhi on Tuesday.
The initial plan is to distribute snack boxes to children of those in quarantine.
In three days, snack boxes were distributed to nearly 450 houses.With a lockdown in force, children are mostly confined to their homes.
They have already completed an academic year without going to school or seeing their friends.
The idea of ‘Palaharavandi’ was put forward to make the children happy.
“Most of the children are fond of snacks and chocolates.
It is not possible for Covid-positive patients to get out of their homes and get the food items their children love.
At the same time, children are not aware of the intensity of the pandemic, and by staying inside their homes all the time, the chance of developing mental stress is high.
So, we thought it would be great if we could provide something which they love,” said S Vidheesh, secretary, DYFI Mangalapuram block committee.The snack box contains items like banana and jack fruit chips, laddu, jalebi, chocolates, biscuits and cakes and most of them are homemade.
The initiative is also expected to bring some relief to some small-scale food units.
“There are some units in our area that used to distribute food items to bakeries.
With the lockdown, they are finding it difficult to make the ends meet.
Such production units are also a part of this initiative.
They provide tasty homemade snacks including chips and cakes and we pay them too,” said Vidheesh.Meanwhile, the ‘Palaharavandi’ initiative has received immense support from the public.
Twelve vehicles have already been voluntarily by local residents to transport the boxes.
They have also come forward to sponsor the snacks.“During the pandemic time, I feel extremely happy that each day the youth are coming up with different ideas.
This initiative was launched to make the children happy.
The kids too will be having the frustration of not seeing their friends.
In the present scenario, they will be definitely glad and excited to receive gifts that they love.
This initiative is exemplary in all ways,” said Chintha Jerome.