Our friends at the Ashram Fund are raising money to run a catering van serving free vegan food to the UK’s homeless. Once purchased, the van will initially provide hot meals twice a week in Manchester and Burnley, with the hope of expanding to other areas. There are also also tentative plans to loan out the ‘all singing, all dancing vegan van’ to other charities and community groups wanting to do vegan events:
‘We are attempting to put a mobile catering van into service that will distribute vegan meals to the homeless and poor in disadvantaged areas across the UK, provide multi-faith cohesion meals in deprived areas, and also serve as a mobile teaching facility for demonstrating vegan cookery and sharing vegan food with the public and in schools.
Shiva Trust supports Sri Ramana’s teachings that we are all one – ‘What I do to another I do to myself’, and the belief that we are all on a journey to our highest self – regardless of our religious, spiritual, or secular traditions. Sri Ramana teaches, that every path to God is equal, and should be respected. Sri Ramana’s Prasad Project is an opportunity for all faiths, and people of no particular faith, to come together in support of our common goal, to love and serve our community, our society, and the world as a whole….. The basis of all Religions is love; the basis of Sri Ramana’s Prasad Project is love.
The poverty relief aspect of the project is about providing the homeless and the poor with the opportunity to experience hot – cruelty-free – vegan meals throughout the winter months. We also provide much needed clothes, toiletries, sleeping bags etc. Whoever comes to us, and for whatever reason we aim to give them some food and loving and friendly conversation, and any items that we can to alleviate the effects of their situation.
The Multi-Faith Cohesion aspect is about acknowledging that we live in a multi-cultural society, and the fact that time and effort spent having a simple conversation, with people who you would not normally speak with, is always enlightening – provided you enter into the conversation with an open heart and mind. In this state of openness we can learn something new. We can challenge our perceptions and beliefs, and can be open to forming new beliefs and great alliances, partnerships, and even friends who have the resources, and skills that we need to help achieve the community projects that we wish to undertake.
Sharing vegan meals and demonstrating how to make them, with the public and with children in schools, is an amazing opportunity to help people to experience creative cruelty-free vegan meals and how easy they are to prepare. Helping people to experience a wide range of different and tasty alternatives can help them to see that a vegan/vegetarian diet is a possibility for them. This aspect of our project is about empowering and educating people and giving them experiences from which they can then make an informed choice.’
You can read a more detailed project description and watch an endearing video publication and pledge a donation by clicking here.
Or use your mobile – Text: SIVA11 £5 to 70070 – to donate £5, or Text: SIVA11 £10 to 70070 – to donate £10.
For details about how you can benefit from any of what our charity is offering please call: 07792788627 or email us at: [email protected]
Shiva Trust is a Registered Charity in England + Wales No: 1148843