Mumbai: Religious and social organisations have come together to fulfil the nutritional needs of children in Palghar by providing them with nutritional laddoos and barfis. Child Help Foundation and International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) collaborated for a mission to improve nutrition in 30 villages of the district.
Child Help Foundation (CHF), a pan India non-profit child-centric organisation, which is known to be working for Children’s welfare in various fields such as health, education, nutritional needs, mental health and a lot more, has collaborated with ISKCON, Palghar for a mission to ‘Improve Nutrition in Palghar’ for kids in the area.
To improve the nutrition level of Paghar, CHF & ISKCON’s ‘Food For Child’ programme has initiated efforts to provide nutrition to children in 30 villages in Palghar district of Maharashtra. The approach involves providing nutritious ladoos and barfis made with superfoods such as grains, nuts and jaggery, conducting regular health check-ups for children, educating parents about the importance of a balanced diet, and recruiting and training Swasthya Rakshak Dampatis as project coordinators.
The programme also aims to expand and reach more communities in the near future. Jiji John, executive director of CHF said “Nutrition plays a very important role in the development and growth of a child. There is a reason why it is called the building blocks of life. With this project, we aim to make the children of Palghar, healthy and strong by providing them with nutritional food which will fulfil the deficiency of calories, protein and vitamins. I am extremely thankful to the entire team of ISKCON, Palghar for supporting us in this mission and partnering with us to make this mission a success.”
To tackle nutritional deficiencies, the program provides diverse types of desserts to children. These include green and black gram beans, peanuts dates, wheat foxtail millet and Navratna barfis, each made with a blend of nutritious ingredients like grains, nuts, and jaggery to boost the essential nutrients, and helping them meet the requirements of Minimum Diversified Diet (MDD).
Gauranga Das Prabhu, a representative of ISKCON, said, “My faith says that it is my duty to serve the poor and underprivileged. By partnering with the Child Help Foundation, I am fulfilling my responsibility as a member of ISKCON Juhu. We would not only be providing healthy foods to children but also educating parents about the importance of a balanced diet. I hope that our initiative brings about a change in the mindset and makes our children healthier.’
