very day, at half past noon, a van loaded with lunch boxes reaches Muslim Town Mor on Wahdat Road. The arrival of the van is anticipated by the low-income workers in the area.

Rehmat Ali, a security guard at a bakery shop close by, takes a short break from work and runs to the van to grab a lunch box. “The meal is freshly cooked and decently packaged,” he tells TNS. “More importantly, it is delivered respectfully.”

The daily menu of this food charity keeps changing from rice and lentils to meat and roti, and so on.

For Ali, it is great help. “A meal costs Rs 150-200 if I check in at the nearest restaurant. This means I’ll end up spending Rs 5,000-6,000 a month on lunch alone. My monthly salary is only Rs 37,000. I can’t afford to spend this much on my lunch,” he says.

The mobile food bank serves over 2,000 food parcels daily at designated places in areas between Muslim Town and Ichhra. “We have more or less the same people collecting the food from us every day; they include security guards, office attendants and daily wage earners,” says Altaf, the van driver.

Named Feedo Needo, the charity is led by Zahid Bhatti, a UK-based Pakistani philanthropist, as part of the services provided by the UK Accreditation and Curriculum Body (UKCAB), a not-for-profit organisation for community development. Feedo Needo was started on a small scale in Birmingham circa 2006. It soon expanded its operations to other cities in the UK. In Pakistan, it was launched in Lahore amid Covid-19 lockdowns.

The rationale behind such food charities is immediate relief and sustenance for underpaid workforce. According to the data provided by the United Nations’ Hunger Map, approximately 597 million people across 89 countries suffer from insufficient food consumption. The UN World Food Programme’s country report for Pakistan highlights ongoing challenges with high levels of poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition. A Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement survey for 2019-2020 revealed that 16 percent of the country’s population experiences moderate to severe food insecurity, as measured by the Food Insecurity Experience Scale.

“Some might think we are creating dependency, but we believe that Allah’s promise of provision of food is automatically fulfilled,” says Zahid Bhatti, the UK-based Pakistani philanthropist behind this charity.

For Bhatti, “White-collar workers are struggling. They might be working in offices but they can barely make both ends meet.”

espite its noble goals, the charity has invited criticism from certain quarters for treating people “as if they were beggars.” Bhatti strongly disagrees, “Some people might think we are creating dependency, but we believe that this is how Allah’s promise of provision of food is fulfilled.

“We invite those in need to collect their parcels discreetly,” he says.

An important aspect of the Feedo Needo food banks is that people “who are homeless or hungry do not have to get a referral to benefit from the service.” Zahid is of the view that “if someone approaches the food bank for help, they must be in real need.

“Also, we do not discriminate on the basis of someone’s background or occupation. Our sole concern is that everyone should receive the food they need.”

A unique aspect of Feedo Needo, according to Bhatti, is that it has never sought official or private funding. Instead, it relies on contributions from the founder’s friends and close associates.

Feedo Needo has signed contracts with supermarkets ensuring that surplus food is redirected to those in need. These stores provide leftover food on a daily basis, which is then distributed among the deserving. The recipients are often single mothers and the elderly.

In response to a query, Bhatti says that the focus of the charity is Muslim Town Mor and its surrounding areas, but “we continue to expand coverage.”

The writer is a media veteran interested in politics, consumer rights and entrepreneurship