This year 2023 started on a very productive note. We were able to give out lots of groceries, especially 250 kilos of rice.This is an ongoing series. We went in autos and began our distribution by identifying the widows and the differently-abled in and around Ennore and Ernavur.

Dhanam, our field staff gave a bag of rice to one family where she saw a sad sight that touched her. This lady, Silormani, lives all alone by herself. She is a differently-abled person who was using a stool cut into two pieces to mobilise herself within her home. On that particular day, she had soaked a little bit of excess rice for her meal and on second thoughts she decided to reduce the amount of rice and took it back from the water and was drying it on a cloth to save it for another meal. She said that she would prepare kanji out of the rice given and said she would never know hunger pangs for the next 10 months. She was very happy to have the CHF bag of rice. We are very glad that we could help a lot of people around the Center and they are also very happy to receive our support during their difficult times as well.

Beulah of Ennore is a beneficiary of the Cancer Warriors Care Programme (CWCP) at CHF. She was a 4th stage breast cancer patient who died a month ago leaving behind a young son and husband to fend for themselves. On returning back from their native place, they have shifted their residence close to their relatives and were wondering how to kickstart their life again. At this precise moment, our field staff Dhanam had visited them with a goodie bag full of stationeries and snacks along with a bag of rice for their use. The bag of rice was very useful and happily accepted for a fresh start of their lives again.

Chitra, a new beneficiary of the Differently-Abled Empowerment Programme (DAEP). In her youth, 20 years back, owing to the fact that the family could not afford to give her in marriage due to the lack of sufficient funds for the dowry, her marriage got forestalled and therefore she decided to stay single with her mother. Being physically challenged, she solely depends on her old mother who receives a meagre pension of Rs.1000/- with which they have to squeeze-in every month. A month ago, her abdomen was bulging but she sensed no pain, so she ignored it  and also because she had not enough money to spare for the treatment. On the insistence of her neighbours, she went to the hospital and was diagnosed with cysts in and out of the uterus. She was wondering if she is a big burden to her ageing mother. At this juncture, the CHF bag of groceries was a welcome sight to them. They were moved and were happy to receive this help from us.

Malliga, an elderly widow lady was unable to attend the Widows Welfare Programme (WWP) as she felt dizzy and could not walk any further to the Center on that particular day. The staff at CHF went to her home and gave her a bag of rice. She was very happy about this kind gesture. She is one of our new beneficiaries.

Many of the beneficiaries of the CHF Groceries continue to be mostly elders who live on the roadside who have no one to care for them. They were very happy to receive this token of help extended by CHF.