PROVIDENCE – Amar Singh remembers his humble start in the United States as if it was yesterday.
Coming from India as a student, Singh didn’t have enough money to purchase an essential daily item: food. He took his first job at a restaurant so he wouldn’t starve.
“I told the owner ‘you don’t have to pay me; I can just eat,’ ” Singh told Providence Business News.
Singh, now the longtime owner of India Restaurant on Hope Street, was recently watching CNN share news about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. He saw the reports about the long lines of people who were impacted by the health crisis seeking food.
Seeing similar images locally, and understanding full well what it feels like to go hungry, it didn’t take long for Singh to respond to the crisis in his own way.
India Restaurant on Dec. 2 began offering 100 free meals each day through Dec. 31 to those struggling this holiday season due to the pandemic. The meal choices, which will be offered via pickup each day at the restaurant between 2-5 p.m., will be either chicken marsala or a vegan meal, with salad and rice as side dishes.
This is not the first time India Restaurant has helped feed the needed during this health crisis. Back in the spring during the first virus surge, Singh’s restaurant offered free meals to frontline workers, such as nurses, doctors, police officers and firefighters.
“This time around, we talked about how we could do this for the general public but for people who had lost a job or for whatever reason that they are struggling,” Singh said. “We want to pay it forward ourselves.”
Singh said one person seeking food from India Restaurant will be provided with two meals if they are taking them for a partner or a family. If the family is larger and two people come to the restaurant from a single family, four meals will be offered.
“All they have to do is say, ‘I’m here for the free meal.’ No questions asked. We have to go with trust, and no one is going to exploit us,” Singh said.
Singh admits this past year has been difficult. Along with combating the pandemic, his wife was diagnosed with cancer last fall, he said. However, Singh said he feels “very blessed” because the community has been supportive to his family and his now quarter-century-old restaurant during both crises.
“We are holding our own and doing alright,” Singh said. “I think we can weather this storm, God willing.”
Providence Business News is spotlighting nonprofits, companies and workers stepping up to challenges presented by the spread of the new coronavirus.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
