Demand rises for free Hare Krishna hot meals in the CBD
• April 8, 2024
Hare Krishna Society is to offer more free meals in Auckland CBD. Photo: James Weatherall
Free hot meals for the homeless in the CBD are set to expand as Hare Krishna Auckland responds to an increasing need.
It already feeds around 300 people fortnightly but will now offer a weekly service from its humble set-up site on a Queen Street sidewalk.
"The key point is we have a lot of rough sleepers who don't have the financial resources to provide a meal for themselves all the time," says organiser Dale Day, also known as "Street Santa".
The society has seen the need for food aid is on the rise, said Kala Das, president of the Sri Sri Radha-Giridhari Temple in Riverhead.
"The demand has definitely increased over the last five years.
"Anyone within a ten-mile radius of our temple should not go hungry. Wherever the need is, we will provide it," says Das.
Temple secretary Krishna Das said the change to a weekly service will double the number of plates being provided monthly.
Sponsor funding and temple donations help the society's aims to fight hunger and build a sense of community even as the demand for meals increases.
Kala says, "If we are not there, we know people are quite disappointed."
Their school meals initiative is no longer viable, due to council requirements for regulations making it financially harder for the organisation.
But, says Kala, "We have a capability far exceeding our current capacity by tens of thousands".
The Sri Sri Radha-Giridhari Temple is "the heart" of the Hare Krishna community in Auckland.
Hare Krishna is known as an "International Society for Krishna Consciousness" in which one of the beliefs is that no one should go without.
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) operates globally and has contributed more than 50 million meals across 22 states in India since the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions.
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