Bangladeshi Food Bank

Dr Gulam Khandaker, a club member, is originally from Bangladesh. He worked with the club to set up projects in rural Bangladesh with a group of families that all have children with cerebral palsy. An infrastructure program providing ramps for wheelchair access ran for two years followed by a rehabilitation project for another two years.

The Bangladesh cerebral palsy register established that the children and their families live well below the poverty line. The fathers of those children work as daily wage earners - day labourers, rickshaw pullers, van drivers, weavers - or farmers. When the Covid pandemic hit, suddenly the fathers in this group had no work and families were in dire need of food. Due to the outbreak in Bangladesh, the country locked down with strict restrictions on non-essential movements. Without income sources, the families were struggling to provide meals for family members.

The charity, CSF Global, organised a Food Bank Program for these vulnerable people. Each food pack contained food for a family of five for two weeks at a cost of A$30.Members of the Turramurra Rotary Club donated $1500 raised from a "Cakeless Cake Stall", and donated a further $16,000 to the Food Bank.