Serving the needy
There is no greater service than feeding the poor and no better sermon than walking your talk. Father Bobby Jose Kattikad, who is popularly known as ‘Bobbyachan’ in Kerala, initiated an effort to lend a helping hand to the needy in the best way possible.
He began Anjappam, a self-sustainable organisation which was inaugurated on October 9, this year. The organisation aspires to serve the poor and marginalised people of the society with good food and knowledge.
The organisation has given rise to a chain of restaurants all around Pathanamthitta district in Kerala. Through these restaurants, one can avail a meal for prices as cheap as Rs 25/-.
Besides this, if necessary, free food is also provided to the hungry, making this place one of its kind. Anjappam strives to feed both the body and the mind. They work as restaurants till six in the evening, after which these buildings are used as libraries to spread knowledge amongst people. Commoners too can join this endeavour and become an equal member of this noble cause. Anjappam restaurants have no cash desk or bills. Instead, they have a box kept inside where people make contributions if they wish to. The restaurant chain funds itself through voluntary donations by customers. They uphold the thought that donations need not be in terms of money alone. Anyone who intends to help the poor and needy always has an option available here. This can be in the form of spending one’s time at the restaurants, serving food, and helping with cleaning activities, working in the library and reading out to old people. They have recently opened their fourth branch in Changanacherry in Kottayam district in Kerala on November 1.
The restaurants serve only vegetarian food. The members of the trust take care to ensure that a majority of the vegetables are acquired locally so that they can provide healthy as well as environmentally friendly food, which is good for both the body and mind.
Anjappam also plans to distribute basic food packs free of cost to the homeless and other needy sections of society. It currently has three other branches in Kerala—Ranni, Neyyattinkara and Kozhencherry.