Daily Times

The multi-faceted actor, musician and biker Umair Jaswal visited Mari Mobile Dastarkhawan in Islamabad where he participated in the evening meal distribution to over 300 underprivileged citizens.

Umair Jaswal also visited the kitchen and catering facility of “Mari Mobile Dastarkhawan” where the meals were being freshly prepared and packed for distribution.

“Mari Mobile Dastarkhawan is an initiative that is close to our hearts. With this setup, we try our best that no one from our community, our kids, our women and our men go to sleep hungry. We provide meals twice a day to over 600 people daily. The setup is organized really well with all COVID-19 SoPs being followed and If you see, the people are in proper queues wearing masks and the garbage is disposed of properly in the trash cans. The reason for my visit here was to show Pakistanis that there are still people around us, who are below the poverty line and we need to think about them. My purpose behind coming here is to show you that a large segment of our society lives below the poverty line and we need to think about them. I am highly thankful to Mari Petroleum, CDRS, all the team members, volunteers, and donors. Let’s all join hands and take this project to our fellow citizens across Pakistan. Pakistan Zindabad.” said Umair Jaswal about Mari Mobile Dastarkhawan.

Indeed, “Mari Mobile Dastarkhawan” has served over 67,000 underprivileged citizens in Rawalpindi and Islamabad in a span of just over three months.

Launched in partnership with Todd Shea’s Comprehensive Disaster Response Services (CDRS) in April 2021, “Mari Mobile Dastarkhawan” provides two meals a day [breakfast and dinner] to over 600 daily wage labourers, street children, and people who are in search of employment away from their villages, as well as those residing at “PanahGah”.

Inspired by the Prime Minister of Pakistan’s Ehsaas Programme, MPCL hopes to play its part in tackling the burden of poverty and malnutrition in Pakistan and aims to cater to over 200,000 people during this 1-year pilot project, with plans to scale-up this project to other parts of the country including MPCL operational areas.

In addition to quality cooked meals and its distribution every day, Mari Petroleum and CDRS teams also ensure COVID-19 pandemic awareness by educating the people during the daily food drives and providing them with preventive essentials such as masks and hand sanitisers.