Serving Food to People in Need

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Fundación Amar Das

Abaidev Kaur from Chile is the Founder

When I look back, I can see that this Foundation was meant to be. I never planned it, nor was it a project or an idea that was floating around in my head. I was simply cooking in another organization. It was on the ground there where I made the determination that when they gave one plate of food a week, I would bring them another. Upon seeing the reality of many people with mental problems, adults and older people, the deterioration and pain in their faces, plus listening to what they said about the food (which they didn’t know I had prepared) – “this flavor reminds me of when I was living with my mother” …etc. I realized that with the taste of the food they remembered their past. Receiving so many genuine and heartfelt blessings made me say, “OK, I will bring you food another day”, and thus they would be assured of at least two plates of food a week.

At that time, I had no idea what I was getting into.

I made the decision in December 2018 and set a date for the distribution to be finalized. We went out for the first time on February 5, 2019.

Nothing was as romantic as I imagined. I thought that we would be supported more than we really were.
It was very difficult for us to find a place where we could cook, where we could put together a semi-industrial kitchen. No one rented space to us, since they thought that people would go to the place to eat. On the second to last day, just before the cooking deadline was due, we managed that someone would rent us the barbecue area of the apartments where I was living at that time.

The foundation was started just months before the social outbreak here in Chile and then the subsequent pandemic. When the pandemic appeared our first reaction was, “what do we do now?” In the midst of everything that was happening, the pillars of the Foundation were established with the first program, “Food for a Brother”.

We decided to share our life coaching services at hospitals, to support health professionals, completely free of charge. This was the beginning of our second “Quality of Life” program, where we had the blessing of accompanying the professionals of the Thorax Hospital for more than three months in the midst of the pandemic process.

Without a doubt, this was a tremendous experience which gave us a lot of strength and empowerment in the face of what we were having to live through. As a foundation we were on the ground throughout the pandemic, bringing pots of food to communities, to people from camps, from very vulnerable sectors.
We mobilized even outside of Santiago, bringing food to people in very abandoned sectors who were left aside.
In this process and to give joy especially to the children, it occurred to us to celebrate the day of the child, for which we made a caravan and went to Machalí leaving backpacks with food and treats at the houses of children to brighten their day. This is how our third program Celebrating with You started.

We also work with older adults, to give meaning and joy to their lives.

Without a doubt, the pandemic was our teacher and above all we adapted to the changes that we saw necessary to apply.

It has been very hard work, 24×7, where there are no weekends, no holidays, no vacations; where we the meaning of our existence absolutely different; where our teacher’s phrase “if you don’t see God in All, you don’t see God at all” is taking on unprecedented strength.

We knocked on many doors to support this work. When they ask me how I project, I always respond the same, “I don’t do it. I’m just a means. This work is sustained by the Creator”.

At present, it is still not possible to pay any salary in a very fair manner. We have managed to keep expenses under control and everything up to date, which is already a great miracle.
The most common thing we hear is people telling us… “how nice it is what we do”. To me this sounds like an insult, since we don’t do it because it’s “nice”, but because of the tremendous need that exists on the streets and in the neediest families.

In reality it is socially not accepted when we ask for resources for what we do. Both national and international funds do not focus on food, but on innovation, on gender, etc.
It is very difficult to prepare the 1500 rations of prepared food that we deliver monthly plus the other 1,500 where we deliver food for direct consumption by older adults and disabled people who live on the streets.

However, to date this foundation has already delivered more than 200,000 food rations and mobilized 200 tons of food.

In gratitude to our volunteers, the objective of our latest program, Serving those who Serve, is to create a community and be grateful for the time, dedication and love of our volunteers.
Clearly this foundation is sustained by the Creator. Miracles manifest in every act we do. Our desires materialize with the support of those who help us. They manage and trust in our management.
In 2022 we won one of the Kundalini Beyond Borders awards and grants from Sikh Dharma International help us be able to continue.

Always grateful and honored in service.

Visit the Amar Das Foundation website for more information and to make a donation to Abaidev Kaur’s efforts to serve those in need.