Feed the Little Tummie
Imagine feeding 200 children with only $50. To some of us, this sounds like a dream. However, Nidhi Malik from Team Toronto has turned this dream into reality. Her Team Management and Leadership Program
Game In the World, Feed Little Tummies, provides food for poor children who live in the slums of India.
Nidhi enrolled friends and acquaintances in the United States, Canada and India into her game by sharing her possibility of Love, Abundance and Cherished Childhood. She uses what she calls “Feed Little Tummies Magic Jars” to collect the funds. In one conversation she raised $50. These contributions were sent to Nidhi’s parents and in-laws, her team players in India, who purchased food from a local store. On three separate days in January and February, food was distributed directly to approximately 200 children in need on each occasion.
Nidhi’s commitment is to have gatherings to raise $50 every two weeks and to empower others to raise awareness and start their own “Feed Little Tummies Magic Jars.” She has created a team with members in Toronto and Los Angeles who are raising funds through magic jars in their homes. Currently her team has raised $900 since January 2010. Her vision is to enroll a corporation in India to expand the project through sponsorships.
Before joining the Team Management and Leadership Program (TMLP), Nidhi was very afraid of rejection and what her friends and family might think of her. Her reasons and circumstances kept her from living her dream.
“When I became a parent I dreamt of a world where all kids are cherished and loved. I wanted to create a hunger free world for children,” Nidhi said. “I thought that there is nothing I can do right now because of all my own responsibilities. How can I help these kids so faraway?”
By participating in TMLP, “I get that anything is possible if you put your mind to it. This is a game that I would have taken on later in life but the Team Management and Leadership Program inspired me to take on my dreams right now,” said Nidhi.
Slums are commonplace where Nidhi was raised, in a suburb of New Delhi, India. “Families that live in the slums come running when they see food,” she said. Nidhi understands the daily struggles of children who are raised in poverty.
“Their experience of life is one of being unappreciated and unwanted. I am a stand that every child be taken care of,” she said. “If children are fed they will go to school. They do not have to work or beg to feed themselves. People can take advantage of hungry children and make them do illegal activities.”
Asked about what she envisioned for all children in India, Nidhi replied, “Anyone can entice you with one meal, but if you know that food is consistently available, then education, health and the arts would be considered more than basic amenities. If children did not have to worry about food, they could start making a difference for themselves and others.”
Through her game, Nidhi is doing more than feeding children in her home country. She is nourishing the future of India and demonstrating that any and all of us can make a difference anywhere in the world.
