With a focus towards supporting relief operations during the COVID-19 pandemic and making a difference, Coca-Cola has partnered with CARE India to provide immediate food security and other essentials to underprivileged and vulnerable groups. As a part of the initiative, Coca-Cola and CARE India will provide dry-ration kits with meticulously curated food items to meet specific nutritional needs of various marginalized groups such as migrant workers, daily wage earners and people living with HIV/AIDS across various parts of the country. The three-month long programme aims to benefit over 1.5 lakh people starting from the month of June. This initiative is a part of Coca-Cola’s commitment of INR 100 crores towards various COVID-19 relief programmes meant to benefit and positively impact over 10 lakh lives across the country.
The programme will be rolled out across Delhi & NCR, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Bihar and West Bengal to distribute dry ration amongst people with meagre resources and affected by food crises. The ration kits include many essentials including wheat flour, rice, pulse, cooking oil, spices, sugar, salt, soy chunks, poha, peanuts, protein powder, milk powder and soap bars. Due consideration has been given to meet nutritional requirements of women and girls, and especially vulnerable groups such as people living with HIV/AIDS to help them deal better with these challenging times. Coca- Cola and CARE India acknowledge that people in distress also need to be treated respectfully and are committed to following safe and respectful distribution practices.
Commenting on the initiative, Mr. Ishteyaque Amjad, Vice-President, Public Affairs, Communications & Sustainability, Coca-Cola India and South West Asia said, “We are privileged to collaborate with our partner CARE India in providing food and essential item support to the most vulnerable communities. We hope that our joint efforts help assuage the state of the most vulnerable people of our society and that through our collective efforts as a country, we will be able to steer ourselves out of these testing times.”
Mr. Manoj Gopalakrishna, Chief Executive Officer, CARE India said, “The nationwide lockdown for fighting COVID-19 has disproportionately affected the poorest and marginalised population in our country. CARE has a rich legacy of being responsive to humanitarian crisis at scale in all parts of the world. We are responding to today’s emergencies and helping people prepare for tomorrows. We have responded to Tsunami, Odisha Super Cyclone, Uttarakhand Floods, Chennai floods and others. In these difficult times we need to ensure that they have access to high quality nutritious food to overcome the challenges posed by this pandemic and provide them with necessary support. With the support of Coca-Cola, we hope to make a difference to the vulnerable and marginalised and hope they overcome these unprecedented circumstances.”