Doing what they know best, feeding people
Hoppers: London’s trendy restaurant chain
A gentle but steadying ‘hand’ from across the wide seas has brought smiles to the faces of little ones in beleaguered families in Sri Lanka unable even to have a hand-to-mouth existence.
Under the ‘Feeding the Future’ project 367 families from across the country received their first month’s nutrition packs on July 3, each to the value of around £25 (the exchange rate had been around Rs. 439 on June 16 when the packs were done up and the value of each had been close to Rs. 11,000).
A popular chain of restaurants in the United Kingdom (UK), ‘Hoppers’ has pledged their support to children here in these troubled times when food is scarce. Invaluable logistical support for the project is being extended by the government-registered charitable trust, Hemas Outreach Foundation (HOF).
“We felt a sense of helplessness being so far away and knew that we needed to help in any way we could as the recent political and economic crisis in Sri Lanka worsened,” says Co-Founder and Creative Director of ‘Hoppers’, Karan Gokani in an email interview with the Sunday Times.
He says that of the various angles they could have taken, “we chose to pursue the one that resonates most with what we do – feeding people, particularly children”.
Several conversations with friends and contacts on the ground in Sri Lanka saw the birth of the ‘Feeding the Future’ project in partnership with HOF.
Feeding the Future: Distributing food packs in Pottuvil
‘Hoppers’ opened in 2015, inspired by home-cooking and roadside stalls in Sri Lanka and South India, had been founded by JKS Restaurants of the Sethi family and Karan.
Although originally from India, they have had several Sri Lankan friends at school and university. This is while Karan and his team also visit Sri Lanka several times a year as they have collaborations with brands and individuals.
“The short-term aim of the ‘Feeding the Future’ project is to provide basic necessities to schoolchildren and their families ensuring that they are still motivated to come to school and learn. In the longer term, once the crisis at hand has abated, we would like to focus on school meals and children’s nutrition,” says Karan.
The project had got off the ground fast because HOF has a ready catchment of little ones in its 60 ‘Piyawara’ preschools dotting the country, set up in collaboration with state bodies including the Women’s and Child Affairs Ministry. Hemas Holdings PLC, among the top five conglomerates in Sri Lanka funds HOF.
With heartbreaking news of malnutrition and starvation due to the vice-like grip of the current economic crisis, coming to the attention of HOF from the grassroots through Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) officers who monitor the preschools, the wheels of generosity had begun turning.
And so, 367 families in 15 of the worst-affected Piyawara preschools in six poverty-stricken districts, as per Sri Lanka’s social indicators, had been selected. They are Bogaswewa and Weheratenna in the Vavuniya district; Kilinochchi and Santhipuram Ambalnagar in the Kilinochchi district; Thalladi in the Mannar district; Silawathurai, Teetakarei and Keppapilaru in the Mullaitivu district; Pottuvil, Uhana and Walagambapura in the Amparai district and Maduranketiya, Bibile, Polgahapitiya and Raththanapitiya in the Moneragala district.
With Cargills supermarkets spread across the country, HOF had made arrangements for them to do up the nutrition packs each consisting of 5kg rice, 2kg dhal, 1kg chickpeas, 1kg sprats, 600g yaha posha, 400g of milk powder, 2 cans of tinned fish, 450g of soya, 1kg of sugar, 500g packet of cream crackers and 1kg of wheat flour. The preschool teachers pick up the packs from the closest supermarket and distribute them to the families in the respective villages.
Karan Gokani
Since the launch of the project three months ago, ‘Hoppers’ has already raised over £30,000 with the aim of reaching over £100,000 by the end of the year and hopes of continuing this programme over the coming months.
Fund-raising by ‘Hoppers’ is being carried out by adding a discretionary £1 on every bill at the restaurants, which guests can request to remove or increase; all ‘Hopper’ restaurants featuring a monthly charity special – Chicken Buriani – and the full proceeds from this dish being channelled to the ‘Feeding the Future’ project; contributions of £5 from each of the ‘Hoppers’ cook-at-home kits with the option for customers to add a further donation if they choose; and raising awareness of the crisis through news features, TV and social media and encouraging direct donations to the ‘Feeding the Future’ project (Just Giving Page at https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/srilanka-crisis).
It was in October 2015 that ‘Hoppers’ Soho, a toddy shop-inspired restaurant had been opened; followed by ‘Hoppers’ at Marylebone’s St Christopher’s Place, themed around the iconic Tropical Modernist movement of the late Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa, in September 2017; and ‘Hoppers’ King’s Cross, the third and largest restaurant in February 2020 inspired by the much-travelled coastal journey from Colombo to the Dutch town of Galle.
‘Hoppers’ has been supporting charities in the UK, Sri Lanka and India. In Sri Lanka, they have linked up with Sarvodaya; the Foundation of Goodness; and Lanka Environment Fund.
“We try to focus our fundraising efforts towards giving back to the communities that we feel we have come to represent in the UK through our food and brand,” says Karan.
Charity special: Chicken Buriani
With a key goal being keeping administrative costs to a minimum while ensuring full transparency, he adds that tapping into the HOF network of staff and volunteers, they have been able to achieve this. Independent auditors Ernest & Young will audit the project on a quarterly basis.
Karan promises that the ‘Feeding the Future’ project is open-ended. While the initial aim is to support children most affected by the ongoing crisis, they have a number of plans for the future.
“Expanding our coverage, however, would depend on various factors like funds, inflation levels and supply chains in Sri Lanka. We are committed to continuing support to anyone we have already begun to help before increasing our scope,” he adds.
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