We, at Only Women, feel that when we are in a capacity to give, we must try and give back to society whatever we can, and how much ever we can, as gratitude for what it has given us and how it has helped shape us in becoming who we are today. So, under our Helping Hands initiative, many members of Only Women decided to donate for the cause of giving meals to underprivileged children and patients and their relatives who wait for long hours outside hospitals. We took up Mumbai Roti Bank as our first beneficiary for the inspiring work it has been doing in this area.

On the 15th of February, 2025 five members of Only Women, on behalf of the community, visited the Chembur based kitchen of Roti Bank and presented a cheque to its Managing Trustee, D. Sivanandhan. Mr. Sivanandhan is former Director General of Police – Maharashtra and former Joint Director of CBI. After retiring from the police force, he has made it his mission to provide nutritious meals to as many children and people in need as possible through this NGO.  He founded Mumbai Roti Bank in 2017. Its fully automated kitchen that cooks thousands of meals a day was established in 2020. The NGO has now expanded to Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Coimbatore and Cuttack and has served over 20 lakh meals till now. The NGO also publishes a monthly magazine.

Roti Bank runs mainly on the support given by corporate houses through their CSR arms. Roti Bank is now looking at buying 3000 sq ft of built-up land between Mumbai and Panvel to establish a permanent kitchen at a permanent location.

Mr. Sivanandhan showed the Only Women members around the kitchen, explained his vision in launching the NGO and treated them to a delicious and nutritious meal cooked at the Roti Bank kitchen. Ashmi Parekh, Aavrutti Sharma, Nilu Kohli, Sapna Sharma and Vidyottama Sharma represented the Only Women community in this project.

It was a humbling and enriching experience for Only Women members. We are happy that some publications published information about Only Women’s visit to the Roti Bank under its Helping Hands initiative.