Members of Lions Club of Patna Femina distribute rice among residents of Yarpur slum in Patna on Monday. Picture by Ashok Sinha

Kusum Devi (36), a slum-dweller in Yarpur, was visibly happy on Monday. Reason: She got a packet of 2.5kg rice from Lions Club of Patna Femina for free.

“I earn only Rs 4,000 by working as a domestic help at various houses in the area. So, it becomes burdensome to run my family with so little money. The club was kind enough to distribute rice among slum-dwellers. The 2.5kg rice would be of great help,” said Kusum.

Her neighbour Phulmati Devi (62) was also glad to get free rice from the club.

Its members carried out the noble work of distributing rice among slum-dwellers in the Yarpur slum.

Club president Jhuma Banerjee said: “Rice was distributed among 500 slum families. We had collected around 2,000kg rice. Not only members of the club but even non-members contributed in this work. We did not take money from any individual or organisation. We only collected rice from them and distributed it among the slum-dwellers. We carried out the distribution under the Hunger Project programme of Lions Club International,” said Banerjee.

Lions Club of Patna Femina runs under Lions Club International.

On whether the club would continue to organise this programme in future, Mala Jha, the club treasurer, said: “Definitely, we would organise the programme at least once a year.”

She added that before conducting the programme in Yarpur, the club had conducted a survey of different places in the city to get an idea of the population of slum-dwellers in that particular area.

Jha said Nanda Garg, the former district governor of the club, was the in-charge of the programme.

“Without her it wouldn’t have been possible to organise the programme,” Jha said. Garg, too, was happy to be part of the programme.