As UN Secretary-General António Guterres wrote in his foreword to the2025 Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC): “Hunger in the 21st century is indefensible. We cannot respond to empty stomachs with empty hands and turned backs.”
Across the world Lions and Leos – with the support of LCIF – have been working tirelessly to improve food security and access to nutritious food to alleviate hunger. In Ranchi, the capital city of Jharkhand, that mission takes the form of the Annapurna Project.
Recognizing that hunger is not confined to the homeless and destitute, but also affects ordinary families waiting anxiously outside hospitals, the Ranchi Global Lions Club of District 322A launched a simple yet deeply meaningful response.
For 54 consecutive Saturdays, the Club has been serving freshly prepared khichdi to patients and attendants at Sadar Hospital, Ranchi. Each week, more than 800 people receive a warm, nourishing meal – plain in appearance, yet deeply comforting at a time when worry leaves little space for food.
What began as a modest effort has grown into a rhythm of care. Over 30 Lions gather each Saturday to cook, pack, and serve the khichdi. Beyond distribution, they pause to listen, exchange a few words, or simply offer a reassuring presence. As one Club member put it, “Food fills the stomach, but kindness fills the heart. We try to offer both.”
In the quiet rhythm of these Saturdays, global concern is translated into local action—and hunger, at least here, is met with full hands and open hearts.