More than 100 families in the Sunderbans whose houses were damaged by Cyclone Amphan and who hardly have anything to eat got essential items from members of the Kerala Catholic Social Service Centre on Sunday.

The members went to Jeliakhali, a small island in the Sunderbans, and handed over the food items. Each family was given 4kg rice, 2kg potato, 1kg sugar, 2kg pulse and 2kg wheat.

The members, who took to crowdfunding to raise resources, set out in the early morning to deliver the items.

Benny Varghese, the secretary of the organisation, said the 140 families had not been able to repair their huts even more than three weeks after the killer storm had struck.

The roofs of most of the huts had blown away. The families put a tarpaulin sheet on the houses to shield themselves from the monsoon rain.

The male members of most families are fishermen. Some are small-time farmers, who work on others’ land.

“The cyclone damaged the boats of many fishermen. Agriculture work largely came to a halt after the lockdown was announced. They are starved of resources,” said Varghese, who visited the area.

Kerala Catholic Social Service Centre, which operates out of its office on Lenin Sarani, is a socio-cultural organisation of the Catholic Malayalees of Calcutta and was founded in 1957. The organisation has been contributing to the chief minister’s relief fund and the Prime Minister’s relief fund and giving medical and educational grants to the poor.

Josheph Cherian, the president of the organisation, said Rev. Father Saju George, the spiritual advisor to the body, felt the need to help the distressed people after visiting their villages.

“Once we received the alert from him, we gave a call for collection of funds.... Food materials were arranged as we thought it was highly necessary to help our poor brethren in rural Bengal,” said Cherian.

The organisation plans to raise funds again and hand over money to the families so they could repair their homes.