Five years of the outdoor food service: what our records show

Anyone can say that a charity feeds people. The harder thing is to show it. The trust keeps its photographs of the outdoor food service in one folder, and the folder tells a plain story: about 700 pictures taken on 34 different days. The earliest is dated June 2021 and the most recent 3 October 2026. That is a little over five years of work in one place.

Dates in this post are the dates in the file names of the photographs on the volunteers’ phones.

What the pictures show, in order of the work

Most photographs follow the same sequence. Onions, carrots and greens are cut on a mat on the ground. A very large pan is lit and stirred with a long ladle. The food is packed into plates and packets. Motorbikes are loaded, and volunteers in the white HNP t-shirt carry the food to pavements, bus stops and tents.

At the end of the chain there is always a hand-to-hand moment: a volunteer bends down and gives a plate to a man sitting beside his bundles, a boy takes a packet, a woman who is carrying a load on her head stops for a moment. These are the pictures used on the outdoor food service page.

The oldest evidence outside the photo files

The records also hold a Telugu newspaper clipping dated 25 October 2021, reporting a food distribution for homeless people led by the trust. A second clipping reports a blanket distribution. They matter because they were written by reporters who were present, not by the trust.

What 34 days means

Thirty-four days of photographs does not mean the service ran only on 34 days. Volunteers do not photograph every day, and the files are only the pictures that were kept. It means that on at least 34 days someone took the trouble to record the work. The real number of service days is higher, and the trust will publish it only when it has a list it can prove.

How to read this as a donor

• Check the dates: older and newer files together show that the work continues.
• Check the faces: the volunteers appear again and again, in the same t-shirt.
• Check the place: the pavements and bus stops in the pictures are in the city, not in a studio.
• Ask to come: a food service can be watched on the day.

If you would like to sponsor a meal or join a service, see the outdoor food service page and the volunteer page. The trust number is 97036 30893 (call and PhonePe).